


Avatar Zuko Book 2

by StarStorm21



Series: Avatar Zuko [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang is a girl, Alternate Universe, Avatar Zuko (Avatar), F/F, F/M, I will make this very gay, M/M, Multi, Romance will not be the main focus, Zuko is the avatar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:54:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 66,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24794215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarStorm21/pseuds/StarStorm21
Summary: Title says it all.Season 2 only with Zuko as the Avatar.Pleas read Book 1 first.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Maybe Sokka/Suki/Zuko, Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Avatar Zuko [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793350
Comments: 102
Kudos: 162





	1. Illness

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I'm finally doing it. I'm writing Book 2.  
> This chapter was harder to write than others since it wasn't an adaption of an episode and more of shifting around plot points so they'd fit.

Zuko was walking along a narrow path. To his left was a forest with the trees so thick he couldn’t see what lay beyond them and to his right was a large cliff with many jagged rocks below. Behind him was the smoldering ruins of the Fire Nation Palace, impossible to return to even if he wanted.

Up ahead he saw the path that he was on split into a fork. One went off into the forest of unknowns and the other went off the cliff side. Zuko stopped as he tried to figure out which way he should go.

“The Fire Nation killed my parents; I was only eight years old.”

Jet’s voice echoed around him and he felt a shove that sent him closer to the cliff.

“Ever wonder why I was the only water bender in the whole South Pole or why Aang is the only air bender left in the world.”

Zuko clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block out Katara’s words as he was once again shoved towards the cliff.

More words and bits of conversations came through, getting louder as the shoves towards the cliff got stronger. If this kept up, he’d end up falling over the edge.

-

Aang and Iroh sat next to Zuko as he tossed in turned in his fevered sleep. He’d been like that ever since he’d separated from the ocean spirit.

Aang held his hand wishing she could do more to sooth him.

“Come on Zuko, it’s going to be ok. You can get through this.”

Katara and Sokka then came into the room and sat next to them.

“How’s Zuko doing?”

“He’s still asleep and feverish.”

Katara placed a hand on Aang’s shoulder.

“He’s going to be alright. He’s stronger than a little illness.”

“Yeah he’s probably just worn out from taking out a whole fleet of Fire Nation ships last night. He just needs rest.”

Aang gave a nod.

“I know I’m just worried.”

Katara then got up and held her hand out to Aang.

“Come on, you haven’t left this place since you got here six hours ago. Let’s get something to eat.”

Aang looked to Zuko again, before Iroh spoke up.

“Don’t worry, I’ll look over him. You go get some food.”

Aang nodded and soon left with Katara and Sokka.

Iroh then turned back to Zuko.

-

Zuko looked down at the abyss. He was at the edge of the cliff now. One more shove would send him over.

“Zuko.”

A calm but menacing voice came from the abyss and Zuko tensed.

“Come now Zuko, you must be tired. Stop fighting, giving in is so much easier.”

Zuko was tired. It was hard fighting against the winds shoving him. He glanced back to the other path that lead into the dark woods. It looked a lot steeper and treacherous now. There was no way he’d make it, maybe he should just give in.

"NO!"

Zuko stopped and turned towards the new voice. It had come from the forest.

“You are strong Zuko. So much stronger than you give yourself credit for. Yes, the path ahead may be hard, but you have people to help guide you.”

Zuko was now facing the forest with his back to the cliff. He hesitated for a moment before taking a step forward.

“Anyone who thinks the world can be saved by a Fire Nation Avatar is a fool.”

The shove from Jong Jong’s words was harder than any before and Zuko was knocked back and over the edge.

-

“No!”

Zuko sat bolt upright, panting heavily, before clutching his head and sank back down with a grown.

“You’re awake.”

Zuko turned his head to see Iroh sitting next to him, holding a cup of water out. Zuko grabbed it and downed the water in only a few gulps before collapsing back onto the furs beneath him.

“How are you feeling.”

“My head feels like Appa stepped on it. What happened?”

“You became ill after you unfused with the ocean spirit.”

Zuko shivered, showing he wasn’t quite well yet.

“Why? I never got sick from doing something like that before.”

Iroh looked surprised.

“You did something like that before?”

Zuko shrugged.

“I merged with Roku at the Fire Sage Temple to protect everyone from Zhao, but I only passed out after that. What made this time so different?”

Iroh frowned, before a brief hint of realization crossed his features.

“I’m not a healer but it is possible that the difference is your motive. Last time was to protect your allies and nothing more. It was not meant to be an attack. This time however, you continued attacking after the safety of everyone was secure and the Fire Nation was retreating.”

“What’s that got to do with this?”

“Zuko, your loyalty of the Fire Nation has been deeply ingrained in you that you have made it a fundamental part of who you are. While you made your choice to fight back, this is the first time you acted upon that choice, and therefore acted against a fundamental part of yourself. This caused your thoughts to become troubled and your body is treating the war in your mind like illness to be fought.”

Zuko looked at Iroh, as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle before looking away.

“Your fever still hasn’t broken. Rest, when this is over things will become clear.”

Zuko narrowed his eyes but eventually closed them and fell into a much more restful sleep.

-

Aang pushed at her food listlessly before looking back towards the door to the infirmary.

“Aang please, you need to eat something.”

Aang dropped her fork and sighed.

“I know, I just feel like I should be with him.”

Katara’s eyes softened and she put an arm around her shoulders.

“It’s going to be alright, Aang. Zuko will get through this.”

Aang nodded and rested her head against Katara. It felt nice being close to her right now.

“Excuse me.”

At the voice they pulled apart and looked to see Arnook behind them.

“Sorry if I was interrupting something.”

“No, it’s fine. We’re just worried about Zuko.”

Katara took Aangs hand and she smiled in thanks.

“Understandable, having someone you care for ill, is scary, but I’m sure once his fever breaks, he’ll be fine.”

Aang nodded and squeezed Katara’s hand.

“You wanted to tell us something?”

“Oh right, I just got word back from General Fong that he’s willing to escort you to Omashu to find an earth bending teacher.”

“That’s good news. We’ll tell everyone else when Zuko is better.”

“Good, I’ll go make arrangements to get you a boat.”

-

A short time later after Katara managed to get Aang to swallow down a few mouthfuls of food a nurse came up to them.

“The avatar’s fever has broken. He should be awake soon.”

Aang was instantly on her feet.

“Really!”

She seemed ready to run into the infirmary until Katara grabbed her hand and she froze. She glanced down at it briefly before looking to Katara questioningly.

“We need to get Sokka first.”

“Oh right.”

A slight blush appeared on Aang's cheeks as she followed Katara outside.

-

After getting Sokka who’d been taking out his emotions on an unfortunate target with is boomerang, they entered the infirmary. Zuko was still in his bed of furs but his eyes were open and appeared to be in a lot less discomfort than he’d been in not that long ago.

Upon seeing him awake, Aang quickly ran over and sat next to him with a wide smile.

“You’re ok!”

Zuko gave an annoyed huff but it was clear it was more for show than anything.

“Yeah, Uncle explained what happened to me. Still kind of tired and sore though.”

Iroh nodded.

“That is to be expected, but that will fade with time.”

Zuko looked to Iroh as if he wanted to ask something but instead looked to Katara and Sokka, who were still standing.

The two water tribesmen got the hint and came to sit next to Aang as Zuko stiffly sat up.

“So, what exactly happened after I merged with the ocean spirit. I know I got sick after we separated and the reason we separated was because the moon was back, but how did that even happen?”

Everyone turned to Sokka who looked down at the floor.

“Yue gave back the life the moon spirit gave her to revive them.”

Zuko blinked.

“Your girlfriend turned into the moon?”

“Uh yeah.”

No one really knew what to say until Zuko spoke.

“That’s rough buddy.”

The mood was lighter after that.

-

They spent another day to let Zuko recover but soon they were packing up to head to the Earth Kingdom strong hold.

Katara was heading to the boat when she was stopped by Arnook.

“Is something the matter?”

“No, I just wanted to give you something before you left.”

He held out a small vial with a leather strap around it.

“It is water from the spirit oasis. You are going to be facing many dangers on your journey, use it wisely.”

Katara took the vial and tucked it away in her tunic.

“Thank you, Chief Arnook.”

“You’re welcome, I will pray to the spirits for your safe travel.”

Katara nodded and smiled, before continuing to the boat.

Once everyone was packed and ready to go they set sail.


	2. Ultimate Weapon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> General Fong is crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throws this up and runs away.

Aang awoke with a start, the lingering memories of glowing eyes and scar still fresh from her dream. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and looked around. Right she was below deck on the water tribe boat, sleeping in a hammock as they traveled to the Earth Kingdom strong hold run by General Fong. She glanced across the boat to see both Katara and Sokka fast asleep in their hammocks and a bit deeper into the room he saw Zuko was sleeping in his as well. However, one hammock was strangely empty.

With a bit of air bending to soften her dissent she got out of her hammock and made her way up to the deck. At the bow was Iroh, looking out over the water.

“Bad dream?”

Aang stopped, confused on how he’d known she was there, but decided it wasn’t worth questioning.

“Yeah.”

She came to sit on the railing next to him.

“It was all the times I saw Zuko in the Avatar State. It was scary. Not because of the power, but because he always looked so pained. Something about it makes him seem vulnerable.”

Iroh nodded to show he understood in the way only experience could give.

The two remained silent for a time before Iroh spoke.

“I think it would be better if I stayed away as you arrange transport from the general.”

Aang’s head shot up and she looked to him quizzically.

“You do?”

“Yes. While I would like to be part of assuring safe travel, having a fire bending master, not to mention the brother of the Fire Lord and former military leader, as the only adult present may not send the right message.”

Aang looked away and nodded. Just because Iroh had proven himself to her, Katara and Sokka, the rest of the world would probably disagree on principle.

“Yeah, that makes sense. What will you be doing while we’re talking to the general?”

“There’s a small port town not far from the stronghold. I thought I’d see if they have any news that would be useful to us and perhaps indulge in some seaside cuisine.”

Aang smiled.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

She then yawned widely and Iroh gave a knowing smile.

“You should go back to bed. You have a long day ahead of you.”

Aang agreed and went back down below deck.

-

The next morning Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko got onto Appa’s back to fly up to the strong hold while Iroh continued to sail to the port town.

Once they were at the top of the stronghold General Fong came out to greet them along with the majority of his men.

“Welcome Avatar and young warriors.”

They had not been expecting such a grand welcome and were awkwardly caught in the middle of dismounting Appa. They looked to each other before silently turning to the general.

“I am General Fong. We are humbled to have you here in our presence.”

The kids turned as they heard the sound of fireworks behind them.

Sakka smiled.

“Not bad. Wish all of our welcomes were this nice.”

Zuko on the other hand seemed rather uncomfortable at the whole show.

“Come let us talk inside.”

They turned back to Fong and followed him into the stronghold.

-

Once inside the kids sat on a large mat while Fong sat in chair behind a large stone desk.

“Avatar Zuko, we were all amazed by the stories of how you single handedly wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole.”

Zuko tensed.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to wield such devastating power. It’s an awesome responsibility.”

Aang squeezed Zuko’s hand and he relaxed a small fraction.

“It wasn’t easy, but after I saw far the Fire Nation was willing to go, I realized I couldn’t continue to be neutral in this fight.”

Fong smiled.

“That is exactly what I wanted to hear. Avatar, you’re ready to face the Fire Lord now.”

“What?”

“No, he’s not!”

Aang was practically clinging to Zuko who seemed too stunned to speak at the moment.

Katara looked to them then to Fong.

“Isn’t that a little rash? Zuko still needs to master all four elements. He’s only begun learning air and water and hasn’t even started learning earth. That’s why we need an escort to Omashu.”

“Why? With the power he already possesses he could defeat the Fire Lord now!”

Zuko flinched.

Sokka was next to step in.

“But Sir, the thing is, Zuko can only do those things when he’s in the Avatar State, and that’s not something he can really control.”

Fong slammed his hands on his desk and stood.

“Then we’ll find a way for him to do so.”

Zuko then abruptly stood, pulling away from Aang.

“Zuko?”

“I need to think.”

He then turned and ran out of the room, leaving everyone stunned.

-

As soon as he was out of sight Zuko found a corner to lean against the wall and instantly he started shaking. His breaths started to come in short pants, and he closed his eyes as his vision swam.

“Come on, get it together. You can’t do this now.”

He sucked in a breath, but it was ragged and sharp.

Suddenly he wasn’t in the strong hold anymore. He was 13 again, kneeling on the floor of the arena. An imposing figure stood over him as hot tears ran down his face.

“Please, Father…”

Fire. Pain. Screaming.

Zuko’s eyes shot open. He was in the Earth Kingdom stronghold.

He shakily got back to his feet. When had he fallen? He then took several calming breaths before brushing himself off and making it look like the last several minutes? Hour? The sun was still high, and no one had found him so it couldn’t have been too long. However long it had been, he erased the evidence of what had happened.

It took him a few more moments before he was able to walk without shaking and started back down the hall.

“Avatar Zuko, there you are.”

Zuko froze at hearing Fong’s voice, but turned to him.

Fong stepped forward and bowed.

“I apologize for my outburst earlier. It was uncalled for.”

Zuko stared at Fong, clearly unsure how to respond. This was the first time he’d been apologized to by an adult aside from his uncle.

Fong straightened and gestured to a window.

“May I show you why I feel so strongly about this?”

Zuko nodded and let Fong lead him over.

The window looked over a white building with a golden roof. Around it were dozens of heavily injured soldiers.

“Every day new soldiers are admitted. They are the lucky ones. The ones who come back.”

Fong turned to face Zuko.

“I know you’ve seen some of the horrors of what the Fire Nation has done, but I assure you it only scratches the surface of the suffering they caused. You have the power to stop all of it right now. If you truly wish to right the wrongs of your people, you will do the right thing.”

Zuko took a step back, his features morphing to a scowl. He had to remind himself that this man couldn’t force him to do anything.

His eyes then glanced to the window and the fight left him.

“I’ll think about it.”

He then turned and for the second time walked away from the general.

-

Zuko walked into the bed chambers and flopped onto the nearest bed. He buried his face in the pillow and groaned.

“Zuko?”

Zuko looked up to see Aang, Katara and Sokka were also in the room.

“Oh, I didn’t see you.”

He sat up and rested his hands in his lap.

“What are you doing here?”

Aang sat on the bed next to Zuko’s.

“We went looking after you didn’t come back for an hour. We thought you might have come here to cool off.”

So it had been over an hour then. At least no one managed to find him.

Katara came to sit next to Aang.

“Did something happen.”

“No.”

Zuko took a breath.

“I mean not really. I ran into General Fong. He said he wanted to apologize for yelling.”

“Good.”

Sokka leaned against the wall beside Zuko’s bed.

“Did he?”

“Yeah he apologized but…”

“But?”

“He also showed me the infirmary. He said it was to show me why he wants me to use the Avatar State to defeat the Fire Nation.”

Sokka locked eyes with Katara and Aang.

Aang shifted closer to Zuko.

“What did you tell him?”

“That I’d think about it.”

Aang looked to Katara for help.

“Zuko, it’s ok if you don’t want to do this. There are other ways to stop the war.”

Zuko didn’t answer. Instead he stood up and walked to the center of the room.

“Do you know what tomorrow is?”

Aang, Katara and Sokka looked at each other.

“Since you said it all foreboding, probably not.”

Sokka was obviously trying to make a joke but it was clear he knew Zuko was serious.

“It’s the anniversary of my banishment. Three years ago, my father bu… sent me to find the avatar. It took me three years to find out he sent me on an impossible quest just to be cruel, and even longer to realize everything I was told about the war was a lie.”

He turned to face them.

“When I agreed to help in the fight against the Fire Nation, I understood what I’d eventually have to do. I’m not ready to face my father but I don’t know if I’ll ever be, and we don’t have time for me to figure that out. Maybe the general’s plan is the right one.”

“No.”

Everyone looked to Aang.

“The general’s plan is wrong. We all know it is.”

She looked around the room. Katara nodded while Sokka looked to Zuko.

Zuko averted his eyes.

“Do we? You’ve seen what the Avatar State can do.”

Aang’s fists clenched as she looked away.

“Yes, I have, and I know it can’t protect you from everything.”

Zuko froze at those words and realization flashed in his eyes.

“Did you…”

Aang nodded, lips pressed together as if trying to hold the emotion back.

“Yeah. It happened right before I died.”

She looked at the ground and hugged herself.

“When you’re in the Avatar State all you have is one goal and you don’t think of the consequences. I was at a dead end. I knew I had to do something or the soldiers chasing me would be able to go back and hurt everyone else who was running away. By the time I snapped out of the Avatar State we were all trapped and there was no more air.”

The room grew silent.

Katara then got up and put an arm around Aang who leaned into her.

“Aang’s right, this isn’t the right way to do this. We all want the war to be over as fast as possible, but this isn’t the way to do it.”

Zuko looked from Aang and Katara before locking eyes with Sokka. Sokka sighed and stood from leaning against the wall.

“Look, I’m not going to lie. The Avatar State is freaking awesome. But as cool as blasting down the Fire Lord’s door with glowing magic powers it’s not actually a plan. We’ll support whatever you choose but just make sure it’s really your choice.”

Zuko broke eye contact but nodded.

Katara led Aang over to the beds.

“I think we should get some rest.”

Everyone agreed and headed to their respective beds.

Zuko laid down and turned over on his side so he faced the wall.

“My choice.”

-

The next morning Zuko stood in the room they’d been in the previous day and faced General Fong. Aang, Katara, and Sokka were to the side silently giving him support.

Zuko took a breath and forced his hands to stop shaking.

“General Fong. I thought about your idea.”

The general looked to Zuko with interest.

“I’m sorry but I’ve decided I’m not doing it. I understand why you want to take such a drastic measure, but it’s too dangerous to rely solely on something we don’t really understand.”

Fong’s face grew dark.

“I see, and there’s no way to change your mind?”

“Even if I agreed with you, that’s not how the Avatar State works. It can only be achieved in times of true danger.”

Fong nodded.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

He moved to stand only to shift into a stance and shove his desk along with a large section of the platform he was on, towards Zuko.

Zuko was too caught off guard by this to move out of the way and was sent flying through the far window and into the courtyard. He only managed to cushion his impact when the ground with a gust of air at the last minute. He looked up to see Fong look down at him from the tower and his fists ignited in anger.

Fong then jumped down after him causing a ripple of earth to spread out towards Zuko, who glared at him in rage.

“I should have known. Doesn’t matter the nation, you military leaders are all the same.”

“If this is the only way to make you understand then so be it.”

He looked to the other soldiers surrounding them.

“Men attack the avatar!”

The solders hesitated for a moment before seeing their generals face and did what they were told. The earth benders took their stances, lifting the large decorative cercles of stone into the air as the non-benders readied their spears.

Zuko narrowed his eyes and took his own stance.

-

Meanwhile two soldiers grabbed Katara and Sokka to stop them from helping, but the one who went after Aang was too slow. She dodged out of his grasp and ran for the window. Upon seeing what was happening she gasped and quickly bended herself down.

Rock and fire was flying everywhere and in the middle of it all was Zuko.

“This isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

Zuko yelled as he threw another fire ball at a soldier.

The fire was deflected by a wall of stone that was then flung back at him.

“Zuko!”

Aang ran towards him but the general saw her first. He held out his hand and suddenly Aang felt her feat sink into the ground.

She let out a startled yelp and Zuko turned to see what was happening. He sent a massive stream of fire at Fong, but it was blocked like all his other attacks.

He tried to run towards the general but was stopped by two circles of rock slamming in front of him.

“Let her go!”

“Only if you enter the Avatar State.”

“I told you that’s not how it works!”

Aang sank deeper.

“I don’t see glowing.”

As this was happening some of the soldiers looked at each other as if realizing what was going on and were suddenly unsure of what they should be doing.

-

Back in the tower Katara and Sokka exchanged looks and nodded.

Sokka swiftly kicked back, slamming his heal into the soldier’s shin. The man let out a cry of pain and let go of Sokka’s arms, allowing him to bury his elbow into the other soldier’s side.

Once free Katara was able to bend water from a nearby basin to freeze the men’s feet to the floor and they both darted for the exit.

-

Aang was now down to her head and Zuko’s desperation was showing. His bending was erratic, fire flying everywhere but nothing landing a hit.

“You could save her if you were in the Avatar State!”

Zuko didn’t reply back and simply continued to try to get to the general.

Fong frowned in disappointment and closed his fist, sending Aang fully underground.

“NO!”

The cry came from Katara who had just seen what happened as soon as she and Sokka had made it down the stairs. Both of them were staring in horror at the place Aang had just been.

For a moment everything was still then the ground started to shake and everyone turned to Zuko. His face showed nothing but utter hatred for the man in front of him as his eyes and scar went ablaze with blue light.

“You wanted the Avatar State. Now you have it.”

As Zuko spoke the inside of his mouth glowed as well and his voice boomed with the volume of several people speaking at once.

Fong’s delight at finally triggering the Avatar State fell as soon as it was clear there was no way to control it.

Fire swirled around him in an inferno, licks of flame burning almost blue. It swelled and spread, burning near everything in its path.

“Avatar Zuko! Can you hear me?”

Zuko made no sign of recognition.

“Your friend is safe.”

He pulled Aang back up and she stumbled backwards.

“It was just a trick to trigger the Avatar State.”

Katara and Sokka quickly ran to Aang’s side but all they could do was watch as Zuko’s fire continued to grow.

Many of the other soldiers fled at this point but Zuko was only focused on Fong. He slammed his fist down sending out a shock wave so powerful it sent everything not attached to the ground flying, including Fong, Aang, Katara, and Sokka.

-

Zuko suddenly wasn’t in his body anymore. He felt himself rise up into the clouds until he was surrounded by them.

He looked around and saw there were hundreds of other people. People he recognized.

“These are…”

“You’re past lives, yes.”

Zuko turned to see Avatar Roku sitting on the back of a large dragon. Zuko looked down to see he was sitting on the dragon’s back as well.

“It’s time you knew the truth about the Avatar State.”

The dragon flew past the other strips around them.

“The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you with the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatars.”

Zuko suddenly saw himself in another body able to move mountains. Then another creating several story tall waves.

“The glow is the combination of all your past lives focusing their energy to your body.”

“All of them?”

Zuko looked to a vacant spot on the clouds.

Roku nodded.

“Yes, even Aang contributes, although I doubt she is aware of the connection.”

Zuko received more flashes from his previous lives.

“It was a large risk sending her back to the physical world. For you see in the Avatar Sate you are at your most powerful, but you are also at your most vulnerable. If either you or Aang were to die while you were in the Avatar State, your connection to your past lives will be broken and the reincarnation cycle will end. If this happens, the Avatar will cease to exist.”

Zuko then rapidly started falling back to his body.

-

Back in the physical world Aang, Katara and Sokka were huddled against the tower, trying to shield themselves from the fire spreading out from Zuko.

Aang peered out around the structure to see the destruction Zuko was causing.

“We have to stop him.”

“How?” Sokka flung his hand towards Zuko. “He’s literally a giant ball of fire right now. We can’t even get near him.”

“If we don’t, he’ll hurt someone.”

“Yeah, us!”

“I have to do something.”

She attempted to run out into the courtyard but was stopped when Katara grabbed her wrist. She looked back pleadingly but Katara just shook her head.

“I’m sorry Aang but there’s nothing we can do. We just have to wait this out.

Aang looked back at Zuko before looking away and stepping back. Katara placed her hand on Aang’s shoulder as support.

-

Zuko fell back into his body and stumbled. He fell to his knees as the fire around him dissipated. After catching his breath, he looked around at the destroyed courtyard.

“Zuko!”

A blur of orange and yellow crashed into him and he looked down at Aang hugging him tightly. Katara and Sokka came running up behind her.

“That was really scary man.”

“Did I really do all of that?”

General Fong came up to them with a large smile on his face.

“Yes, and it was incredible! Now we just have to find a way to control you when you’re like that.”

The four kids glared at Fong.

“You’re out of your mind.”

“Aw well, we’ll just have to figure…”

Fong was knocked out midsentence by a rock hitting him in the head.

Everyone turned to the soldier who’d hit him.

“What? The kids are right. He’s crazy.”

No one objected.

“Do you still want an escort to Omashu?”

Aang helped Zuko up and they all looked to Katara and Sokka.

Katara smiled and looked to the soldier.

“I think we’re good.”

-

Later, on the back of Appa, Zuko told everyone what had happened while he was in the spirit world.

“Wait, what do you mean no more Avatar?”

“That’s what Roku said, if either of us dies while I’m in the Avatar State there won’t be another Avatar.”

Aang looked lost.

“They never told me. So much of this could have been avoided if I’d known. Why didn’t they tell me?”

Katara reached out to her.

“I’m sure the past Avatars had their reasons.”

Aang brushed off Katara’s hand and turned away.

-

Appa landed just outside the port town, where they agreed to meet Iroh. They didn’t have to wait long as Iroh quickly ran up to them, a look of urgency on his face.

“Uncle, what’s the matter?”

Iroh stopped and took a few deep breaths. He seemed to have run the whole way from the town.

“We have a bit of a situation.”

Zuko’s scowled as the other three took on looks of concern.

“What kind of situation?”

“Azula’s here. She says your father wants us back home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I was going to ask this later after a few more chapters but I just want to know, how do people feel about Sokka/Zuko or Sokka/Suki/Zuko?  
> This fic is also on Tumblr and I will take peoples' opinions there into account as well. 
> 
> Please be respectful. All homophobic comments will be ignored and deleted.


	3. Home

“Who’s Azula?”

Aang looked between Iroh and Zuko as if reading their expressions would give her an answer.

“She’s my sister.”

Zuko looked back to Iroh.

“But I don’t understand. Why would she say Father wants us home?”

Iroh crossed his arms.

“She said there was an assassination attempt on his life. He wants people he knows he can trust close by.”

His tone made it clear how much he believed that.

Sokka was inclined to agree.

“Sounds like a trap to me.”

Zuko’s fists clenched.

“Is it possible she knows. From the North Pole?”

Sokka shook his head.

“I don’t see how. Kind of hard to see someone in a giant glowing bubble inside a fifty-foot water monster that washed away any Fire Nation before they got at all close to you. It’s kind of impossible anyone saw you, but we also can’t be too careful.”

Aang bit her lip in worry.

“So, what are we going to do?”

“We’re getting on Appa and flying away.”

Katara looked to the group as if it was obvious.

“We can’t.”

Everyone looked to Zuko with varying looks of confusion, except for Iroh who had an expression of understanding.

“Before I joined you, I did everything I could to go back home. If the Fire Nation doesn’t know who the avatar is, then that’s a pretty strong advantage, and the best way to keep that secret is to act like nothing’s changed. If I don’t immediately jump at a direct summons back, they’ll know something’s up and we won’t be able to shake them.”

“So, you’re just going to walk into what is obviously a trap?”

Sokka threw his hands up to show how ridiculous he thought that idea was.

Zuko tensed.

“We don’t know if it’s a trap.”

“Even if it’s not, you can’t go with her. She said she’s taking you back to the Fire Nation, back to your father. You know how dangerous that is. Eventually they’re going to find out.”

Sokka reached out to Zuko but he pulled away.

“I know that, but if we can avoid Azula and who knows how many ships she brought from coming after us…”

“It’s not worth the risk!”

Zuko rounded on Sokka, eyes flashing with anger.

Aang quickly jumped in between the two boys.

“Hey, let’s not fight. We’ve all had a long day and are still stressed out from what happened with General Fong.”

Iroh raised an eyebrow at the mention that something had happened but didn’t ask for details. Instead he turned to the kids in front of them.

“Aang is correct. Stress clouds our judgment right now. We have until we’ve rested. There’s an inn in the village we an spend the night at and figure things out in the morning.”

The aggression drained out of Zuko and he turned away. A flicker of shame crossed his face before hiding it from view.

“Yeah we should get some sleep.”

He then made his way towards the town while everyone watched him go.

Iroh was the first to react.

“He just needs some time. I knew this news would be hard for him.”

-

They all got to the inn after the sun had set and payed for their rooms. Zuko remained silent while Aang and Katara helped another guest carry their many bags inside.

Zuko and Iroh got one room while Aang, Katara, and Sokka got another a couple doors down. Aang and Katara fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows but Sokka was having difficulty.

His bed was next to the window and he had clear view of the moon above them. He stared at it for a while before groaning and sitting up.

He walked out of the room silently and made his way to the stairs that lead to the roof. It was a nice open space with a small pavilion to one side. He sat on the ledge and looked up at the sky.

“I don’t get it. Why’s he being so stupid about this?”

The words were low and quiet. Not that there was any one else to hear them. He curled up in the shadow of the pavilion and sighed.

“Having trouble sleeping, nephew?”

Sokka tensed and looked around, but the roof was empty. He then looked down and realized he was right above Zuko and Iroh’s room. He quickly went to leave so he wouldn’t overhear their private conversation when he heard Zuko speak.

“I shouldn’t have gotten mad at Sokka.”

“Anger is a strong shield when we feel vulnerable, and can be easily grasped when it is better to leave it behind.”

There was a thunk sound which could be assumed to be Zuko slumping against the wall and a shifting of robes which was probably Iroh sitting next to him.

“There’s more to your desire to go than just keeping Azlua off our trail, isn’t there?”

Zuko huffed.

“I feel like an awful person. I shouldn’t want to go home. Not after everything I’ve learned.”

“Zuko it’s alright…”

“No, it’s not. The Fire Nation has done horrible things, all lead by my father. I know he’s not the honorable man I thought he was. I know he’s a bad person. So why? After all I’ve learned, after everything he’s done… why do I still want his approval?”

The thump this time was unmistakably a fist against the wall and Sokka flinched.

Suddenly his mind drifted back three years ago to when a young twelve-year-old boy tried so hard to prove to his father that he could fight in the war along side him. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes with a soft grown. He may not know what it was like to be related to a horrible person like Ozai, but he understood the want for a father’s approval.

He brought his head back down and let out a breath. He then quietly got to his feet and went back to his room, to leave the rest of Zuko and Iroh’s conversation private.

-

In the morning they all met in the hall and head down the stairs to plan out what they were going to do about Azula. However, as soon as they made it halfway down the stairs Sokka held out his hand in front of Aang and Katara to get them to stop. He also reached towards Zuko and Iroh but they had already made it to the landing and froze at the sight that greeted them.

“Hello Brother, Uncle.”

The voice was pleasant but had an underlying icy tone to it.

“Azula? What…?”

“Back home we exchange a pleasant hello before asking questions. Have you become so uncivilized so soon Zuzu?”

“How did you know we were here?”

“Oh please. I knew I was the smart one, but I thought you would at least know I would know this is the only place you could be staying. This town isn’t that big and only has one inn.”

Sokka cringed. They really should have thought about that, they really were out of it last night.

“Anyway, let’s go.”

“Go?”

The three hidden members of the group could practically hear Azula’s eye roll.

“Yes, did Uncle not tell you? Father wants you home. He said he regrets your banishment and sent me to come get you. He wants you home.”

Both Zuko and Iroh were silent.

“Did you not hear me? You should be happy. Excited. Grateful. You were just given great news.”

Iroh quickly stepped in to save Zuko.

“I’m sure your brother just needs a moment. He didn’t quite believe me when I told him last night.”

“Don’t interrupt, Uncle!”

All of the fake warmth she’d given towards Zuko was gone as she yelled at Iroh.

“The ship is waiting for us. Sa here will go get your bags.”

Aang, Sokka, and Katara tensed ready to run back up the stairs if the person Azula had apparently brought with her started to come up.

Thankfully Iroh was able to save them.

“That won’t be necessary. All of our belongings were lost when pirates attacked our ship, we have no bags to speak of.”

“Oh right, Zhao did mention that in one of his reports. Of course, he also said you were dead so we couldn’t really take any of what he said as fact.”

There was a tense silence at the mention of Zhao.

“Anyway, if you have nothing to pack then there’s no reason to waste any more time. Let’s go.”

Azula turned towards the door and unable to do anything else Zuko and Iroh followed her.

Sokka, Aang, and Katara gave each other worried looks and quickly went back up the stairs to figure out a plan, only to find a sword pointed at them. A sword held by a Fire Nation soldier, with two more right behind her.

They quickly turned to run but were blocked by three other soldiers at the bottom of the stairs. They were trapped.

-

Zuko and Iroh followed Azula to the pier where a large Fire Nation ship was docked. Soldiers lined each side of the pier and Iroh gives them a suspicious look as they passed. Once at the end of the pier a soldier, who appeared to be of a hire rank and not wearing a helmet that covered his face stepped forward.

“We will be ready to embark soon your highness.”

“Good, set a course for home.”

She stepped on to the ramp leading up to the ship’s deck and the soldiers turned so they were facing the ship, effectively cutting any exit back down the way they’d come.

The unmasked soldier began walking up the ramp as well and made a motion with his hand for the other soldiers to follow.

“You heard the princess. We’re taking the prisoners home.”

Everything stopped for a moment as the man realized what he’d just said. Azula shot the soldier a murderous glare as Zuko and Iroh froze in their tracks.

“You’re highness I…”

Everything happened at once. The soldiers behind them quickly jumped to attack but Iroh was faster and easily took out the first two and continued to singlehandedly dispatch the next wave.

Zuko turned to help him but was distracted by the sound of the man who’d accidentally revealed Azula’s plans being thrown overboard. He turned back to see Azula dusting her hands off as if she’d just touched something vial. She then turned to Zuko with a smirk.

Reverting to just using fire bending was almost unconscious with the amount of rage he felt at that one action. Streams of fire snaked from his hands but Azula’s expression didn’t change.

“You lied to me!”

“Like I’ve never done that before.”

He lunged at her, but she effortlessly dodged out of the way. He continued to attack, chasing her up to the deck of the boat but was unable to land a single hit on her. Azula, however, didn’t even need to use her bending and simply grabbed his wrist and used her other hand to shove him back. The fire in his hands dissipated and he looked down at them in shock before glaring back at his sister.

“You know Father blames Uncle for the loss at the North Pole.”

She smiled wickedly at him.

“And he considers you a miserable failure for not finding the Avatar.”

Zuko’s eyes widened at the unknown confession that it was still unknown that he was the Avatar.

Azula’s smile grew sharp, apparently misreading the shock on Zuko’s face.

“Why would he want you back home, except to lock you up where you can no longer embarrass him.”

Her eyes then narrowed.

“Oh, but don’t worry. You’ll have the Avatar and your little friends to keep you company.”

Zuko’s vanes felt like ice.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb Zuzu. Like I said that inn was the only place to sleep in that town, you really think we didn’t see you all going in together? The Avatar may have some sense to cover his face, but it was like you were trying to be caught.”

Jets of flame sprang from Zuko’s fists and he lunged at her again. He kicked fire into her face but she evaded just as she’d done before. Even managing to strike back and leaving three small scratches over his right eye with her sharp nails.

He continued to throw flaming attacks at her, but nothing broke through her defenses. Then, when they had made their way to the raised platform that looked over the rest of the ship, Azula’s tactics changed. Her stance shifted and searing blue flame shot from her fingertips, causing Zuko to jump back to the deck to avoid being burned.

He then looked up at Azula who was still on the platform, looking down at him. Her stance widened and she swung her arms out in an arc, two fingers pointed out as lightning cracked around her. She drew her hands together, bringing the electricity close, but just as she was about to strike Iroh appeared and grabbed her hand, redirecting the lightning away from Zuko and into a nearby cliff face. He then, in one quick movement, shoved her over the side of the ship and into the water.

“We’ve got to go. Now.”

Zuko nodded and followed Iroh back down the ramp and towards the town. They didn’t stop running until they made it back to the inn which was uncomfortably dark and silent. Zuko shook his head. No, they couldn’t be too late.

Just then a familiar grown came from above and they looked up to see Appa coming down to land next to them. Aang quickly jumped off and tackled both of them into a hug. Iroh smiled and hugged her back while Zuko was as awkward as he always was with Aangs hugs and just stood there staring at her.

“You’re ok. After you left with Azula we were attacked by Fire Nation soldiers. We were able to get away and loos them in the forest, but we knew that you would be in danger too. We were just on our way back to help when we saw you.”

“One of Azula’s soldiers revealed her plans a bit too early and we were able to fight our way out. She also revealed she doesn’t know I’m the Avatar, but she does know we’re working with you.”

“Oh…”

Sokka then leaned over the saddle.

“Well then we can’t stay here. Come on we’ve got to go.”

Everyone nodded and got onto Appa.

Once in the air Iroh looked to Zuko and he nodded.

-

Several hours later they landed deep into the forest next to a large river. Wordlessly both Zuko and Iroh made their way to the water’s edge and sat down. Zuko pulled out an ornate looking knife and then held it up to the base of the thick cord holding his hair up. The knife easily sliced through the cord and hair. When the knife was all the way through, he handed the knife to Iroh who did the same with his topknot and the two dropped the hair into the water, letting them flow downstream.

-

Later that evening while Iroh and Katara were making dinner and Aang was playing with Momo Sokka found Zuko sitting alone near the edge of the woods.

“Hey, you ok over here?”

Zuko looked up and shrugged. His hand went up to brush at the stubble left from cutting away his ponytail.

“It doesn’t look bad.”

Zuko looked to Sokka.

“Your hair. It’s not bad. Wasn’t going to say anything but I kind of hated that ponytail thing you had.”

“It’s called a phoenix tail.”

“Still looked stupid. It looks better cut off. Although I don’t really know why you did it.”

Zuko sighed.

“We talked about it before, Uncle and I. In the Fire Nation cutting your hair signifies a disconnect from your heritage, or where you came from. Cutting away from your roots as it were. When I found out I was the Avatar, I thought about cutting my hair because I knew I didn’t belong there anymore.”

Sokka frowned and sat down next to him. Zuko still seemed to have more to say.

“I didn’t do it before for two reasons. First when I told my uncle he said that if I did it, he would do it too. I couldn’t do that to him, but I realized he made his own choices. The other reason…”

“You still wanted to go home.”

Zuko stiffened.

“Hey, it’s fine. I get it. The Fire Nation is horrible but it’s still where you grew up. Of course you’d miss it.”

Zuko looked to Sokka a bit stunned but nodded.

“It didn’t really sink in until now, but as much as I miss it the Fire Nation isn’t my home. Not anymore.”

Sokka looked to Zuko and made a show of standing back up.

“Come on, let’s go get dinner. I can smell the meat cooking and I’m starved.”

He held out his hand to Zuko and he took it. They then both headed over to the fire to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about leaving it just at the part where Zuko and Iroh cut their hair but I felt like I needed to have Sokka and Zuko talk after their kind of fight and what Sokka over heard.  
> A lot of people interpret the hair cutting scene as a symbol of Zuko and Iroh cutting their ties to the Fire Nation so I decided to make it canon in this AU.  
> I have a headcanon that the reason for Zuko's dumb shaved head ponytail hair style was because his head had to be shaved after his face was burned to let it heal and he kept it like that as a reminder of what he lost. I was going to have Zuko say so in this chapter but it got too wordy and didn't sound like something Zuko would reveal about himself. So I just decided to put it in the notes.  
> Edit: I have been informed that the hair style is a sign of loosing an Agni Kai.


	4. Cave of Two Lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was the chapter I was going to ask about the Zukka stuff but now I think I’m just going to do what I want and see where the story leads me. Hopefully I wrote Aang and Katara’s part better than the show did.

With the threat of Azula behind them for now everyone decided that it was best to get in some bending practice while they could. Katara and Zuko, not wanting to get their only clothes soaked, stripped down to their under garments while Aang perched herself on the stone arch protruding from the cliff next to them. Sokka, who had decided he didn’t want to be too left out, stripped down as well in order to ‘watch’ from a large leaf floating in the water. 

Meanwhile Iroh told them he was going for a walk and had disappeared into the trees a while ago.

Katara and Aang took turns telling Zuko to switch between water and air bending, but after a while it was clear he was advancing far faster in air than water so Aang let Katara take over.

Sokka seemed to have gotten board by then so of course had to make some commentary.

“Are you guys almost done? Remember we still have to get to Omashu today.”

Zuko tensed while Katara gave Sokka a disapproving look.

“Oh, like you’re ready to go?”

Sokka stretched out on his leaf, causing Momo to shift after making himself comfortable on his chest. 

“I can be ready in two seconds. So, finish what you’re doing. We should be ready to go by the time Iroh gets back.”

“If we’re waiting on my uncle then we have plenty of time.”

Aang piped up from her position on the arch.

“In that case, Katara, didn’t you say you wanted to teach Zuko that new move?”

Katara’s eyes lit up and she gave Aang a bright smile. She then turned to Zuko, not seeing the thoughtful look on Aang’s face.

“Right, I’m going to show you the octopus form.”

Katara demonstrated the stance and Zuko mimicked it, looking to Katara for approval.

Katara narrowed her eyes before nodding.

“Bring your arms closer together in front of you and you’ve got it.”

Zuko nodded and adjusted as instructed. After a few more instructions, eight tentacles of water slowly emerged from the surface and surrounded him. They were a bit shaky, but they held.

Katara frowned.

“Zuko, you have to concentrate. You know bending is more difficult if you’re distracted.”

Zuko shook his head.

“I’m not distracted.”

His stance shifted in his anger and the water tentacles shot in the air. One shot towards Aang and she jumped off the arch to avoid getting hit. Unfortunately, she was too caught off guard to catch herself and ended up falling onto Katara.

Katara stumbled back and they both fell into the water. After a bit of struggling the two untangled themselves from each other only to end up in a position with their faces very close together. 

Before they could really process what was happening Sokka burst into laughter.

“Who’s the distracted one now?”

Aang quickly shot back a few feet as Katara angerly shot a wave of water at her brother.

Everyone’s attention was then caught by a sound they did not expect to hear in the middle of a forest, music and singing. Well one of the voices singing was expected as Iroh appeared on the riverbank, however the five other people playing instruments behind him were not.

“Hello children, I hope you don’t mind, I met these wonderful people on my walk. They were headed in this direction so we ended up walking together.”

The man who’d been singing along with Iroh stepped forward.

“Hi, my name is Chong, and this is my wife Lily.” 

He motioned to the woman to his right, who gave them a small bow. He didn’t introduce any of the others though. 

“We’re nomads going wherever the wind takes us.” 

He looked to Iroh.

“Or old men with an appreciation for music.”

“And an inability to properly identify plants.”

Lily laughed as Iroh looked sheepish.

“He almost made tea out of a rather deadly plant.”

Zuko sighed.

“That sounds like Uncle.”

-

Later when everyone was dressed and Aang had dried her wet clothes with air bending they all sat and listened to the nomads tell stories of their travels. Aang listened with wrapped attention as Lily wove flowers into her and Katara’s hair. Iroh was also happily listening while drinking, not poison, tea. Sokka and Zuko, however, were less enthusiastic.

When Aang mentioned wanting to go see the giant glow worm and endless rainbow the nomads mentioned Sokka stepped in.

“Look I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara’s busy I guess it’s up to me.”

Katara shot him a dirty look at the comment.

“We need to get to Omashu, no sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows.”

The large man in pink robes frowned.

“Hey, don’t harsh on rainbows, Man.”

Chong sat up from where he was leaning against Appa and smiled at Sokka.

“Looks like someone’s got a case of destination fever. You’re too worried about where you’re going.”

Lily dropped Katara’s braid and looked to Sokka as well.

“You got to think less on the where and more on the going, besides it doesn’t seem like your angry friend there is too happy with the where anyway.”

Sokka paused and turned to Zuko who straightened from his tense posture at being addressed. 

“Zuko?”

“No, you’re right, Sokka. We need to get to the city to find an earth bending teacher, sitting here won’t do that.”

Chong looked like he was thinking.

“Sounds like you guys are headed to Omashu.”

Sokka’s palm met his forehead with a lout smack.

Chong settled back down against Appa.

“There’s an old story about a secret pass, right through the mountains.”

Aang looked to Chong in interest, but this time it was Katara who spoke up.

“Is this real or just a legend?”

“Oh, it’s a real legend. There’s even a song that goes with it.”

He started playing his lute and swaying back and forth while the other nomads pulled out their own instruments.

“Two lovers

Forbidden from one another

War divides their people 

And a mountain divides them apart

Built a path to be together…”

The music bork off and Chong looked down at his lute.

“I forget the next few lines but then it goes.

Secret tunnel!

Secret tunnel!

Through the mountain.

Secret tunnel!”

Aang, Katara and Iroh clapped, while Sokka and Zuko just stared.

Sokka crossed his arms. 

“Thanks, but I think we’ll stick with flying.”

Iroh then put down his teacup.

“Actually, I believe this hidden mountain pass may be our best option. I saw Fire Nation troops along the mountain side during my walk.”

Sokka’s jaw dropped.

“And you didn’t care to mention that sooner?”

“It wasn’t relevant then.”

Sokka sighed.

“You know what fine, we’ve dealt with Fire Nation before we can get by them no problem.”

Aang jumped up.

“How about I go with Appa to check, just to see what we have to get passed.”

Sokka thought about it before nodding. 

“Good idea.”

-

A while later Aang returned rather frantic with soot smeared all over her face and clothes.

“So, about that secret love cave?”

-

The nomads led them to the side of the mountain and into some old ruins.

“So how much farther to the tunnel?”

“Well it’s not just one tunnel. The lovers didn’t want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth.”

They stopped in their tracks and Sokka whorled around to face Chong.

“Labyrinth?!”

Chong shrugged.

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

Sokka narrowed his eyes but they kept walking.

Lily held a hand over her heart as she looked to Chong.

“All you have to do is trust in love.”

She then looked back ahead of them.

“Well according to the curse.”

Sokka stopped again with grit teeth.

“Curse? Why doesn’t anyone say these things earlier?”

No one answered him as they suddenly were at the mouth of a large tunnel entering the mountain.

“Hey we’re here.”

Chong sounded way too enthusiastic for how ominous the tunnel seemed.

Sokka looked up at the cave’s ceiling.

“So, what exactly is this curse?”

“It says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise you’ll be trapped in them forever.”

“And die.”

Lilly added unhelpfully.

“Oh yeah and die.”

Chong’s face then lit up.

“Hey, I just remember the rest of the song.”

He strummed on his lute.

“And die.”

The sound echoed off the walls of the tunnel.

Sokka put his hands up.

“That’s it, there’s no way we’re going into some cursed hole.”

Iroh then stepped forward.

“I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but it appears that we have been spotted.”

He pointed to a large plume of smoke not far off.

Aang glanced at Katara then looked to Sokka worriedly.

“I’d rather trust in love than the Fire Nation.”

Sokka clenched his fists.

“Fine everyone into the hole!”

They all ran inside just as four Fire Nation tanks rolled up and blasted the mountain, causing a rockslide and sealing them in.

-

Appa pawed at the wall of rock once it had settled but even a several ton bison wasn’t enough to brake through. They were trapped.

Katara pat Appa’s side. 

“It’s ok Appa, we’ll be fine.”

“Of course, we will. We just got to be smart about this.”

Sokka then turned to Chong who had lit a torch.

“How long do those torches last?”

“About two hours.” 

Lily pulled out four more torches.

“And we have five torches. So that’s ten hours.”

She then lit all of them with a smile.

“Not if they’re all lit at the same time!”

He knocked the torches to the ground to stop them out, but they extinguished as soon as they hit the ground. He looked to Iroh but he was already tucking his hand back into his robes. 

Right, technically they had infinite fire, but it was probably best not to reveal that to the nomads.

He then stomped over to Appa and pulled out a piece of paper and a charcoal pen. 

“I’m going to make a map to keep track of exactly where we’ve been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through.”

They continued down the tunnel, however, Iroh noticed Zuko was lagging behind.

“Is something the matter, nephew?”

Zuko grit his teeth and sped up.

“It’s nothing.”

Iroh frowned but followed silently.

-

The group wandered through the tunnels while Sokka traced their path on his paper. They turned another corner and suddenly had to stop at the dead end they found.

Sokka looked at his map then back up at the wall of rock.

“This doesn’t make any sense. We already came through this way.”

Sokka continued to scrutinize his map, trying to figure out where they went wrong.

Chong and the other nomads seemed unphased but this development.

“We don’t need a map. We just need love. The little one knows it.”

He pointed to Aang who looked a bit guilty.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t mind a map also.”

Sokka looked from the map back to the walls again with increasing confusion.

“They’re something strange here. There’s only one explanation.”

He rolled up the map and turned to the group with a grim face.

“The tunnels are changing.”

As if to emphasize his point the walls started shaking.

For the first time Chong and the other nomads didn’t appear relaxed.

“It’s the curse. I knew we shouldn’t have come down here.”

Sokka glared at Chong.

“Right, if only we listened to you.”

“Everyone be quiet.”

Everyone turned to Katara.

“Listen.”

Something echoed down the tunnels. It sounded like growling, but it was impossible to tell where it was coming from. It sounded again and Momo went flying back to Appa in fear. 

The group huddled together trying to find what direction the threat was coming from. Then out of the shadows something swooped down over them, screeching and howling.

They all scattered trying to keep out of range of the creature’s teeth and claws.

“It’s a flying thing with teeth.”

The thing landed in the middle of them and the torch light finally showed what it was.

“It’s a wolf bat!”

The wolf bat lunged at Sokka who scrambled back into Zuko. He also dropped the torch and the wolf bat scrambled away from it. 

Sokka and Zuko exchanged looks and nodded. Sokka grabbed the torch and flung it at the wolf bat, Zuko subtlely making the flame bigger as it flew. That got the wolf bat to bolt but it also had the unintended consequence of spooking Appa. The large animal started to run around frantically, hitting the walls with such force they started to crack. 

Rocks fell from the ceiling and everyone started running to avoid getting hit. Just then a large section came down and Aang sprang forward to push everyone out of the way with a large gust of air. This unfortunately left her on the other side of the collapse. Or more specifically under it. Just then a hand reached out and grabbed her pulling her away from the falling rocks. 

She turned to see Katara, clutching the torch that Sokka had thrown, running in the opposite direction of where her brother was. They jumped into another tunnel just as the last of the rocks came crashing down around them.

Once everything had settled, they got up and looked at the damage. It was worse than they thought. The entire cave had collapsed behind them completely separating them from the rest of the group. 

A loud grunt came from their right and they saw Aappa pawing at the collapsed tunnel, but much like with he entrance there wasn’t much he could do.

-

On the other side Sokka was frantically digging through the rubble, calling out Aang and Katara’s names desperately. He was then pulled back just as a large bolder came loos and fell right where he’d been a moment ago. He looked up to see Zuko.

“It’s no use. It would take a team of earth benders to get through that.”

Sokka shook his head. 

“No Aang and Katara are trapped back there. We’ve got to. The wolf bat could come back or there could be another cave in or…”

“Hey, Aang and Katara are smart. They’ll be ok.”

Sokka looked back to the rock pile.

“But…”

Iroh then came over to them.

“My nephew is right. It is honorable that you would fight so vehemently to protect those you care for, but right now the best we can do is try to find an exit ourselves and hope they will do the same.”

Sokka nodded, tension leaving his shoulders at Iroh’s words.

Chong of course then ruined it.

“Yeah, don’t worry. At least you have us.”

The nomads then started to play their instruments and Sokka looked about ready to start digging again just to get away from the obnoxious nomads.

-

Aang and Katara headed down the tunnel they’d been trapped in, while Appa followed behind. Katara looked to Aang who was awkwardly walking next to her.

“Is something wrong?”

Aang jumped.

“Oh, uh no, everything’s fine. Or um I guess, not fine. We’re still trapped in an endless maze of tunnels without Sokka, Zuko, and Iroh, but everything else is fine.”

Katara gave Aang a soft smile and placed a hand on her shoulder. Aang looked at the hand then back to Katara.

“It’s going to be ok Aang. We’ll find a way out and so will the others.”

Aang smiled and nodded.

They started walking again only for the torch to illuminate something up ahead.

“Aang look, it’s a door.”

“We found the way out.”

They both ran to the door and started to push. It didn’t budge until Appa came over and headbutted it open. The stone seal shifted and rolled to the side to reveal nothing but a pitch-black cavern behind it.

Both the girls’ faces fell as they stepped inside.

“This isn’t the exit.”

“No, it’s a tomb.”

They walked down the steps to the large stone coffins placed on a pedestal.

“It must be the lovers from the legend.”

Katara brought the torch over to the pedestal showing it was covered in writing and pictures.

“There story is written here.”

Aang came closer to see.

“They met on top of the mountain that divided their two villages. Their villages were enemies so they couldn’t be together, but their love was strong, so they found a way. The two lovers learned earth bending from the badger moles and became the first earth benders. They built elaborate tunnels so they could meet secretly. Anyone who tried to follow them would be lost forever in the labyrinth. But one day the man didn’t come. He died in the war between their villages. Devastated the woman unleashed a terrible display of her earth bending power. She could have destroyed them all but instead she declared the war over. Both villages helped her build a new city where they would live together in peace. The woman’s name was Oma and the man’s name was Shu. The great city was named Omashu as a monument to their love.”

Aang and Katara looked to each other before turning to see a large mural of the two lovers kissing behind them.

“Love is brightest in the dark.”

-

Sokka clenched his fists around his map as they hit another dead end that should not be where it was. 

The pink robed nomad sighed.

“Great you’re planning led us to another dead end.”

Sokka stamped his foot.

“Well at least I’m trying to think of a way out of here.”

Chong stepped forward.

“Whoa wait a minute we’re thinking of ideas? Because I’ve had an idea for like an hour now.”

Sokka threw his hands up in frustration.

“Yes! we’re all thinking of ideas!”

“Well listen to this. If love is the key out of here, then all we need to do is play a love song.”

All the nomads seemed to agree with this while Sokka just stared dumfounded.

“I don’t know why I was thinking any different.”

He sulked over to Zuko, rubbing his temples.

“Can you believe these guys.”

Zuko looked up as if being pulled out of deep thought.

“Huh? Oh yeah…”

Sokka frowned.

“Hey, don’t worry buddy we’ll find the girls and get out of here. It’s going to be ok.”

Zuko looked away.

“That’s not the problem. Or well it is a problem just not the only one.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s stupid, forget it.”

“If it’s making you upset then it’s not stupid.” Sokka smirked. “Or at least not anymore stupid than when I tried to dig through a whole cave in with my bear hands.”

“That wasn’t stupid, you were worried about Aang and Katara.”

“And whatever’s worrying you isn’t stupid either.”

Zuko sighed. 

“You’re not going to give this up, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Fine. It’s just I understand why we have to go to Omashu. It’s the safest place for me to learn earth bending away from the Fire Nation, but well last time we were there…”

Sokka’s eyes widened in horror and guilt.

“Oh, spirits I’m so stupid. Of course, you wouldn’t want to go back there after that.”

“No, it’s fine, I know it’s safe now. Like I said it’s stupid.”

“No, it’s not. Zuko, you were held prisoner and thought we were going to hurt you there. We then basically kidnapped you and dumped a huge revelation on you. No one would want to go back to a place where something like that happened."

Zuko didn’t answer.

“How about this. Once we get out of here, we’ll talk to Aang, Katara, and your uncle and think of a new course of action. You won’t have to set foot in Omashu ever again if you don’t want to.”

Zuko looked to Sokka as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You don’t have to…”

Sokka held up his hand.

“Yes, we do. There are other options that don’t involve making you uncomfortable, we can do one of those. Just promise me something ok?”

“What?”

“Next time you feel uncomfortable doing something you tell us so we can change it.”

“Uh… yeah I promise.”

He looked a bit shocked by this but nodded.

“And uh… thanks.”

Sokka smiled.

“That’s what friends do. Now come on, lets see if we can get these idiots to follow a real plan.”

Just then the tunnels started shaking again.

-

Aang and Katara continued looking around the tomb, but there were no other clues to where the exit was.

Aang slumped against the wall and sighed.

“How are we going to get out of here?”

Katara looked to the mural again then to Aang.

“I have a crazy idea.”

“What?”

Katara looked away.

“Never mind it’s too crazy.”

“No, what is it? I want to hear.”

There was genuine interest in her voice.

Katara fidgeted with her hands.

“Well I was thinking. The curse says we’ll be trapped here forever unless we trust in love, and here it says love is strongest in the dark with a picture of the lovers kissing.”

Aang tilted her head in confusion, not quite putting the pieces together.

“Where are you going with this?”

“Well, what if we... kissed?”

A dark blush covered her cheeks and Aang’s cheeks flared red in return.

“What?!”

“Yeah it was a crazy idea.”

“No no. It’s not, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“You’d be ok with that? Even though we’re both…”

Katara seemed confused now.

“Of course, what’s wrong with that?”

Aang held her hands up.

“Nothing! It’s just, I know some people wouldn’t be.”

She looked at the ground.

“Aang?”

Aang placed her hand on the mural.

“The monks always said that love goes beyond physical bodies. That no matter what you were born as, man, woman, or anything else, it has no baring on who you love.” Her hand turned into a fist. “Then when I became an air bender, certain expectations changed. I’m the only air bender in the entire world. If balance is to be restored…”

“It’s ok Aang, we don’t have to do it if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“It’s not that. The problem isn’t that I don’t want to do it, it’s that I do.”

Katara’s eyebrows pinched.

“Wait, are you saying you like me?”

Aang’s face grew beat red.

“No! I mean, I don’t know. When we first met, I thought you were really pretty, and I still do, but now there’s... more. I know you’re smart, and brave, and kind, and you care about people so much, it’s kind of amazing, but does that mean I like you? I don’t know, and I don’t want to make our friendship weird because of it.”

Katara smiled and took ahold of Aang’s hand. Aang looked down at their entwined hands in a bit of shock and wonder.

“You won’t. I’m the one who suggested we kiss after all.”

“Oh…”

“We don’t have to do it now. I’m not sure how I feel about you either, but we can figure things out later. The kiss is an option for later and it doesn’t have to mean anything if we don’t want it to.”

Aang nodded and they made their way out of the tomb.

A short time later Aang glanced over to the torch and frowned.

“Hey how much longer do we have with the torch?”

Katara looked down at the low wick.

“Not sure, but probably not more than a minute.”

The flame sputtered a bit and they both flinched.

“What do we do when the light goes out?”

Katara looked to Aang as if asking permission. Aang’s eyes widened but she nodded. Slowly they leaned in and the light went out.

-

The rumbling and shaking got louder and more intense until something very large burst through the far wall. The dust settled revealing a massive brown creature, with milky brown eyes and very large claws. The shaking continued and a second creature burst into the tunnel behind them.

“Badger moles.”

The badger moles growled and stomped causing the ground beneath them to tremble. 

Sokka backed up into Zuko and Iroh.

“A bright torch isn’t going to be enough to scare these guys off.”

They exchanged looks and Zuko and Iroh took their stances. However, before they could do anything else the badger moles stopped again, sending them to the ground. 

One approached Sokka and he scrambled back, only for his hand to land on Chong’s lute that had been dropped in the confusion. A single tone came from the instrument and the badger mole stopped. Sokka looked down at the lute then back at the badger mole.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He picked up the lute and plucked a few more strings and the badger moles calmed. 

Chong smiled.

“Hey, those things are music lovers.”’

The other nomads pulled out their instruments, Chong somehow acquiring another lute, and they started to play. The badger moles swayed to the sound.

Iroh went over to join them and turned to Zuko.

“Come on, nephew, join us.”

“I think you’ve got it covered.”

Iroh nodded in understanding and turned back to the nomads.

Behind him Zuko looked to Sokka who was making a fool of himself with the lute and the smallest quirk of a smile formed.

-

For a moment there was nothing but darkness. Then, hundreds of bright glowing blue crystals cast light down on them from the ceiling. Aang and Katara broke apart and they looked up to see the crystals making a very clear path down one of the tunnels. 

Aang stared up in awe.

“They must only light up in the dark.”

“Love is strongest in the dark. That’s how the two lovers found each other. They just put out their lights and followed the crystals.”

Katara pointed down the path the crystals showed.

“That must be the way out.”

They both quickly started running down the indicated path.

-

It wasn’t long until they found the exit and rejoiced at finally being free. Appa was the most dramatic bounding out and flopping over with a large moan. The two laughed before Aangs smile fell.

“Wait what about the others. They didn’t make it out.”

Katara’s face grew worried too. Then the mountain side started to shake, and two massive holes appeared on either side of the exit. The dust cleared and there, riding on top of two massive badger moles were Sokka, Zuko, Iroh, and the nomads.

Sokka slid down and ran towards them.

“How’d you two get out?”

“It was just what the legend said. We just had to trust in love.”

Katara smiled and squeezed Aangs hand.

“Really? We just had to play music to huge ferocious beasts that busted through the mountain for us.”

He turned and watched the badger moles go and seal up the holes they made behind them.

Aang went to go hug Iroh and Zuko, Zuko awkwardly stiffening in the embrace as always. She then turned to Katara and Sokka.

“So, guess we’re off to Omashu now.”

Sokka frowned and locked eyes with Zuko.

“Actually, we might have to rethink our plans for that.”

“I’ll say.”

Chong pointed out towards the city and everyone gasped.

Smoke billowed from huge factories and a large red Fire Nation banner hung above the gate. The Fire Nation had taken over Omashu.


	5. Meetings in Omashu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now understand why people who right fics with Zuko joining the Gang early do it in a way that leaves Iroh out of it. I had to leave him out of the second half of this fic for things to happen the right way.  
> What do I do with Iroh?

Aang looked out on the mountain made city as if staring at it long enough would change what she was seeing. She eventually looked away and hugged herself.

“I can’t believe it. I always thought of Omashu as unbeatable.”

Sokka crossed his.

“Up until now it was. Now Ba Sing Se is the only unoccupied Earth Kingdom city left.”

Zuko looked to Iroh but the old general gave no reaction to the name of the city he’d laid siege too.

Katara rapped an arm around Aang’s shoulders and pulled her close.

“It is awful, but we have to keep moving. It’s not safe here.”

Aang pulled away with a determined look.

“No, I’m going in to find Bumi.”

Sokka stepped forward with an arm stretched out for her to stop.

“Aang, we don’t even know if Bumi’s still…”

Aang turned to Sokka, fists clenched.

“If he’s still what?”

Sokka looked away, shoulders slumped in guilt.

“Around.”

Aang turned away, eyes shut tight.

Katara took Aang’s hand.

“Aang, we know you have a history with Bumi…”

“Then you know how important finding him is to me.”

Everyone went silent. Aang looked pleadingly at Katara who caved instantly then looked to Sokka.

Sokka sighed.

“Fine, but it’s just reconnaissance. Unless Bumi’s in immediate danger we’re not getting involved.”

Aang looked like she was going to argue but Katara placed a hand on her shoulder and motioned to Zuko. Aang glanced over before nodding.

While the girls were having their silent conversation Zuko leaned over to Sokka.

“Who’s Bumi?”

“Oh, uh he’s apparently a friend of Aangs from when she was the Avatar and also the king of Omashu.”

“Oh…”

Sokka grimaced.

“You don’t have to come. We’re just going to pop in to make sure he’s alright and then we’ll go.”

Zuko looked to the city then to Aang’s large, worried eyes, still directed at Katara.

“No, I’m coming.”

He turned to Iroh.

“What about you, Uncle.”

“Of course, after all experienced hands make the best blends.”

Sokka stared at Iroh for a moment then turned to Zuko but he just shrugged.

“I would like to know how you plan on getting inside. I doubt the guards down there would be willing to open the gates for us.”

Sokka frowned.

“Right, and Appa’s way too conspicuous. If only we knew of another way in.”

Aang perked up at that.

“Oh, I know a way.”

-

Later Appa hovered near a ledge that protruded from the cliffside under Omashu while Aang used her staff to beat a cover off a metal pipe.

“There’s a secret passage under Omashu?”

Aang nodded with a large smile on her face as she slammed her staff down again.

“Yeah Bumi and I used to use it to sneak out back when he was a kid.”

“Wait Bumi knows about this? How did you know he didn’t seal it up? Wouldn’t that be a major security flaw?”

The cover came off and a horrible smelling liquid spewed out of it.

“That answer your question?”

She hopped down from the pipe and jumped inside, with Momo clinging to her back.

Everyone just stared at her retreating form.

Zuko looked to the others.

“She’s joking right.”

“Unfortunately not and we don’t really have another choice.”

Katara jumped into the pipe and started following Aang.

Iroh took a step back.

“You know maybe I will stay behind. Experienced hands can still make a bad brew…”

Zuko grabbed the back of his shirt and glared at him.

Iroh sighed and straightened out his clothes.

“Alright.”

He climbed into the tunnel as well leaving just Sokka and Zuko.

“Avatar’s first.”

Zuko scowled but did get into the pipe. As soon as he was inside Sokka turned around and tried to run away only for Zuko to turn around and grab him.

-

The trek through the pipe was gross but the majority of the group managed to get through well enough, either by bending the sludge out of the way or putting up a barrier with their respective element. Sokka, however, wasn’t able to do that and was forced to wade through the full amount of sludge until Zuko finally noticed and helped him out.

Once at the end, Aang air bent the manhole cover away and jumped out. Katara, Iroh, and Zuko soon followed, shaking off the few bits of sludge that managed to cling to them.

Katara brushed down her dress and smiled.

“That actually wasn’t so bad.”

“Speak for yourself.”

Sokka pulled himself out of the pipe, sludge dripping off him in clumps.

Zuko looked away guilty while Katara used a nearby rain barrel to wash Sokka clean. However, once the sludge was gone it revealed a tiny creature suction to his cheek, which he proceeded to freak out over.

Aang quickly knocked him back with a gust of wind to quiet him.

“Relax it’s just a purple pentapus.”

Aang scratched its head and the tentacles released, leaving behind red marks where its suckers had been.

“We need to hide. Sokka’s screaming probably alerted some guards.”

Everyone nodded but just as Zuko and Iroh managed to duck behind a building a voice sounded from further up the street.

They looked up to see three guards headed towards them.

“What are you kids doing out after curfew?”

“Uh… we were just heading home.”

The guard in front frowned and stopped them.

“That’s not an explanation.”

Iroh then stepped out from behind the building. He’d apparently found and old blanket he’d rapped around his head and shoulders like a shall to obscure his features in the dark.

“Ah, there you children are. I apologize officers, my… grandson tends to sleepwalk, and his sisters were just bringing him home since we all know we’re not supposed to be out this late.”

He then started ushering them to the back road Zuko was hiding. They were just about there when one of the guards called out.

“Wait, what’s wrong with the boy?”

They stopped and turned back to the guards. Katara was the one to save them this time.

“Oh, he has pentapox, Sir.”

The guard came closer but Katara stepped in again.

“You don’t want to get too close, it’s highly contagious.”

Iroh caught on and nodded.

“Yes, I mentioned his sleepwalking. It’s one of the side effects and can be quite severe. So, we really should be getting him back home before he infects anyone else.”

He nudged Sokka who quickly caught on and stumbled forward reaching out to the guard in an over dramatic way.

“Uhhh... it’s so awful, I’m dying.”

The guard stumbled back.

“I think I’ve heard of pentapox, he turned to the guard to his right. Didn’t your cousin die of it?”

The guard to the left stared at Sokka in horror.

“We should go wash our hands and burn our clothes.”

The guards turned tail and ran as fast as they could.

Zuko then stepped out with an exacerbated look on his face as he made eye contact with Sokka.

“You are a horrible actor.”

“Hey, it got the guards to leave, didn’t it?”

-

Far away Azula sat in her palanquin as Lo and Li advised her on her next actions.

“You’re right, the royal perception is too cumbersome. If I’m to fulfill my mission, I’ll need a small elite team.”

A dark smile crossed her features.

“It’s time I visit some old friends.”

-

The group ran through the streets, hiding behind buildings and construction supplies.

“This place is crawling with guards.”

Sokka nodded

“We need to find Bumi and then get out a soon as possible. Now where would they be keeping a powerful earth bender king?”

Aang looked around at the city.

“It’d have to be a place he couldn’t earth bend. Some place made of metal.”

Just then their attention was shifted to the sound of something crashing down the side of the city’s walls. They looked up to see large boulders heading in the direction of a small group of people.

Panicked Aang blasted the rock off path with a sudden air gust, causing a rather loud crash.

The people she’d just saved stopped and looked around, revealing them to be Fire Nation. The woman holding her baby cried out and pointed towards the crash.

“The resistance!”

The guards and girl next to her quickly took fighting stances. The girl smirked and flung her hands forward, several sharp projectiles flying from her sleeves.

Aang jumped out of the way, while Zuko froze in shock at seeing who was attacking. He then quickly grabbed Aang’s shoulder and pulled her away as they all ran.

“Change of plans we are leaving immediately.”

“But what about…?”

“No! We are leaving!”

Katara shot a stream of water at one of the guards following them, causing him to fall on the one behind him. The girl who shot the arrows at Aang, however, was barely slowed down by that and Katara had to create an ice barrier to avoid getting struck.

Iroh gasped upon seeing their pursuer and turned to Zuko.

“Is that Mai?”

“Not now Uncle.”

Aang knocked a scaffolding tower down behind them which did managed to stop Mai from running after them but not throwing sharp objects at them.

Then out of nowhere the ground beneath them disappeared and they all fell into a dark underground tunnel, filled with men dressed in green uniforms.

A man with a large black beard stepped forward and looked down at the group.

“Come with us.”

Sokka stood up and looked the man over.

“And who exactly are you?”

“We’re the resistance. We’ve been fighting the Fire Nation’s control over Omashu since they came.”

Aang jumped to her feet.

“A resistance? Is King Bumi with you?”

The man scowled.

“Of course not. The day of the invasion we readied ourselves for battle. We were prepared to defend our city. To fight for our lives and our freedom, but before we even had a chance King Bumi surrendered.”

Aang’s eyes went wide.

“What?”

“On the day of the invasion I asked King Bumi what he wanted to do. He looked me in the eye and said, “I’m going to do nothing,” and laughed.”

The man clenched his fists.

“It doesn’t matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom and freedom is worth dying for.”

Aang frowned.

“There is another way to freedom. You could leave Omashu.”

“What? We can’t do that! They’ve taken our home and we have to fight them at any cost!”

“No, Aang’s right.”

Everyone looked to Zuko who suddenly looked uncomfortable with the attention.

“You’re out numbered, it’s impossible to win.”

“And who are you to tell us that?”

Zuko looked the man in the eye and bent water in a near by puddle with one hand while lighting a fire with the other.

“That answer your question?”

The Earth Kingdom men stared in awe.

“I get that you want to fight for what’s yours but Aang’s right. You don’t stand a chance. Especially if it’s Mai’s family in charge.”

“You know the scary knife girl?”

Zuko looked away trying to hide the light blush forming on his right cheek.

“She’s one of Azula’s friends.”

He recomposed himself and looked back to the resistance leader.

“Trust me the only way out of this is to retreat and live to fight another day.”

The guy next to the leader looked thoughtful.

“You know living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good to me.”

The next guy over also voiced his agreement along with murmurs from the rest of the rebels.

The leader frowned before letting out a sigh.

“Fine, but there’s thousands of citizens who need to leave. How are we going to get them all out?”

Sokka looked thought full before his eyes lit up with an idea.

“Suckers!”

Everyone looked him confused, but Sokka just smiled.

“You’re all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox.”

It took a while to gather enough pentapi but eventually everyone was covered in red marks.

Sokka stood in front of the crowd.

“Alright, the marks make you look sick, but you got to act sick.”

Zuko looked to Katara.

“Why is Sokka the one giving the acting lessons?”

“You want to do it?”

Zuko blushed and looked away.

After Sokka finished instructing the citizens they all started shambling down the street letting out agonized moans.

All except for Aang who Katara noticed was facing the other direction.

“Aang aren’t you coming?”

“No, not until I find Bumi.”

She set Momo on the ground and flew off.

-

The fake sickness worked, and the guards herded all the citizens out of the gates. However, no one noticed the toddler dressed in red exiting along with them as he chased after Momo.

Later when everyone had made camp Aang came back with Bumi’s pet, Flopsy, but no Bumi.

“I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find him.”

Katara hugged Aang close.

“Aang, I’m so sorry.”

The rebel leader stepped forward.

“We have a problem. We just did a head count.”

“Oh no, are we missing someone?”

The man shook his head.

“No, we have an extra.”

He pointed to the Fire Nation toddler clinging onto a struggling Momo.

“Awe, cute.”

Katara bent down and started playing with the kid allowing Momo to dart away.

There was then a loud caw from above them and everyone looked up to see a messenger hock flying down towards them. It landed on a near by rock and the rebel leader pulled out the message.

“It’s from the Governor. He thinks we kidnapped his son.”

“The kid’s Mai’s brother?”

The toddler let out a happy gurgle and reached his hands out towards Zuko. Zuko took a step back.

“Yes, the Governor wants to make a trade. He’s son for King Bumi.”

Aang eyes lit up but Zuko quickly shot it down.

“No, it’s an obvious trap. We’re not going.”

“But what about Bumi?”

“Trust me, they are not going to give you Bumi. If you go, all that’s going to happen is you getting captured.”

“What choice do we have. If we don’t show up, the Governor will still try to get his son back and next time it could involve soldiers. At least this way we have a chance of saving someone instead of putting people in danger.”

Zuko grit his teeth then sighed.

“I hate that you’re right.”

Sokka then stepped in.

“Zuko’s right too, though. This is very obviously a trap. So, if we’re going to do this, we got to do it smart.”

-

Aang, Katara, and Sokka stood on the wooden platform designated as the meeting point for the exchange while Zuko watched just out of sight from on top of Appa, Blue spirit mask in hand.

The time for the exchange came but instead of the Governor, Mai arrived with two other girls behind her. Zuko tensed at seeing who’d shown up but remained where he was. Nothing bad had happened yet.

A crane from above them lowered what looked like a metal casket down and the distinct laughter of Bumi could be heard from it. The casket turned to indeed reveal the kings face.

“Hi everybody!”

Aang smiled, her shoulders relaxing at the sight of her friend.

The casket landed behind the girls and Mai looked over the group in front of her.

“You brought my brother?”

Sokka stepped forward and showed the child he had in his arms.

“He’s here, we’re ready to trade.”

However, before anyone could move the girl to Mai’s left spoke and everyone froze at realizing just who Mai had with her.

“I’m sorry but a thought just occurred to me. Do you mind?”

Mai turned to her.

“Of course not, Princess Azula.”

The air seemed to get colder upon her name being said out loud.

“We’re trading a two-year-old for a king.”

She looked up at Bumi.

“A powerful earth bending king?”

Bumi nodded with a large grin and Azula turned back to Mai.

“It just doesn’t seem like a fair trade does it?”

Mai looked back at her brother, who was still happily cuing in Sokka’s arms.

“You’re right.”

Her expression showed no emotion, however, the girl to her right looked to her worriedly. Mai stepped forward.

“The deal’s off.”

Bumi was lifted back into the air and Aang jumped forward to try to get to him. Azula then stepped forward and shot a jet of blue flame at her. Aang jumped with a gust of air behind her to avoid the hit and landed on the scaffolding to the right.

Azula stopped and smiled.

“Oh, I recognize you. You’re that air bender that’s been traveling with the Avatar correct?”

Aang didn’t answer and just kept looking at Bumi as he was lifted higher. That did not miss Azula’s attention.

“How about a different trade? The King for the Avatar?”

That got Aang’s attention and she glared down at Azula.

“Yes, you’re right that seems like a bit too high the other direction. I know. How about one pathetic royal for another? I know you have my brother and uncle with you.”

Aang didn’t even bother listening to the rest and launched herself up at Bumi. Everything became chaos after that.

Aang landed on the metal casket holding Bumi and started blowing super chilled air onto the chain holding it. Azula used a pully attached to the scaffolding to pull her up to the same level and started attacking them, leaving Mai and the other girl with Katara and Sokka.

The two girls rush forward, Mai throwing shuriken from her sleeves. Katara blocked most by using her water bending to fling boards from the plat from into the air and the rest were blown away but a gust of wind from Zuko as he jumped down from Appa’s back. He turned to face Mai and their eyes locked through the mask, Mai’s eyes widening a fraction before narrowing again and she launched back into the fight.

As they fought Katara turned to Sokka and told him to get the baby away.

“Already on it!”

Sokka bolted towards Aappa only to stumble when two knuckles jabbed into his foot followed by another jab to his ankle and his whole leg went limp.

The third girl jumped out of a whole in the platform and advanced on him. Sokka tried to get up away but his leg wasn’t moving. He was thankfully saved by Katara wrapping a whip of water around the girl’s ankle and pulling back.

Sokka smiled and managed to hop himself over to Appa.

The girl got back up and turned to Katara. She smiled and nimblely jumped back to her feet with a jab towards Katara’s left shoulder. It struck and with another few jabs the water Katara was bending fell limply to the ground.

Katara’s eyes went wide and she tried to bend again only for the water barely shift under her hands.

She turned to Zuko who seemed to be having difficulty with Mai. The girls advanced on them only to be distracted by Sokka’s boomerang and then flung back as Aappa landed.

-

Meanwhile Aang had managed to get a thick sheet of ice around the chain holding Bumi.

Bumi craned his neck to look up at Aang.

“Aang, stop your blowing for a moment.”

He didn’t get a chance to finish what he was saying as Azula caught up with them and launched a fire kick at them.

Thinking fast Aang slammed her staff into the now brittle chain, snapping it.

“Now wait just a minute!”

Bumi yelled as they plummeted but Aang cushioned their fall with a dome of air as they fell into a mail shoot and they started sliding away.

Azula watched them go and jumped into a carrier bin to follow them.

Zuko, Katara and Sokka saw this from the back of Appa and Sokka steared them closer.

“Hang on Bumi our rides here.”

“Aang, wait I really need to talk to you.”

Aang rocked the casket and with a gust of air knocked it free from the mail shoot. Unfortunately, she overshot the saddle and ended up launching them over onto another mail shoot below them.

Without even thinking Zuko jumped out of the saddle and slit down after them. However, he didn’t see Azula was right behind him and launching a wheel of fire at them.

Bumi, however, did see and sent a wall of rock between them and the attack. This both launched Zuko onto the casket next to Aang and destroyed the carrier bin Azula was using, forcing her to stop chasing them.

Aang looked down at Bumi in shock.

“You could earth bend all along?”

Bumi grinned.

“They didn’t cover my face.”

He grunted as his shifted his head and another wall of rock slowed them to a stop at the bottom of the shoot.

Aang and Zuko got off the casket and looked to Bumi confused. Aang then stepped forward looking both angry and hurt.

“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you free yourself? Why did you surrender when Omashu was invaded? What’s the matter with you Bumi?!”

Bumi sighed.

“Listen to me.” He glanced to Zuko. “Both of you. There are options in fighting called jing. It’s a choice on how you direct your energy.”

“I know! There’s positive jing when you’re attacking, and negative jing when retreating.”

“And neutral jing: when you do nothing.”

Aang looked dumbfounded.

“There are three jings?”

“Well technically there are eighty-five, but let’s just focus on the third.”

“Neutral jing is the key to earth bending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike.”

“That’s why you surrendered.”

“Yes, and it’s why I can’t leave now.”

Aang looked away sullen and turned to Zuko.

“Looks like you were right. I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”

Zuko took off his mask, obviously unsure what to do. His attention was then taken when Bumi spoke.

“Oh right, you’re here. Sorry about the whole locking you up thing.”

Zuko shifted uncomfortably.

“Yeah didn’t think that would work. Anyway, I do have something I need to tell you. You are looking for an earth bending teacher, correct?”

Zuko glanced to Aang but nodded.

“Then you must find a teacher that has mastered neutral jing. You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking and remember, what you’re looking for may not always be what you expect.”

Zuko looked away without acknowledging he understood or would listen but Bumi still smiled. He then turned back to Aang.”

“I have to go now Aang, I’ll see you when the time is right.”

Aang nodded and watched as Bumi earth bent his way back up the mail shoot.

Sokka and Katara then showed up with Appa and Aang as Zuko hopped on.

Katara noticed Aang’s sad exprestion and looked to Zuko.

“Is she ok?”

“She’s got a lot to think about, and so do I. What about you? Did Ty Lee’s attack wear off?”

“Oh, is that the perky girl’s name?”

Sokka lifted his leg up and down to show he could move it again.

“Yeah we’re good now. Glad we don’t have to deal with her again.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

Mai’s brother then crawled over and tugged on Zuko’s pant leg.

“So, what are we going to do with him?”

Aang picked him up.

“Don’t worry I’ll drop him off were some guards will find him and get out.”

She opened her glider and took off.

-

Mai had just finished packing to leave with Azula when she saw a streak of orange outside her window. A few moments later she heard her parents joyfully shouting her brother’s name.

She looked back towards the window and the barest hint of a smile crossed her face.


	6. The Swamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too happy with this chapter, mostly because there wasn't much to change other than the spirit visions, but it is important for future stuff so I had to write it. Hope I still made it interesting.  
> Next chapter will have a lot more changes.

Momo scurried around everyone as they road on Appa’s back. They were currently flying over a massive expanse of trees that all looked the same as Aang steered. Zuko stared over the side down at the trees seeming to get lost in them.

Sokka looked up from sharpening his machete and noticed Zuko’s zoned out state.

“Hey, you ok there?”

Zuko shook his head and blinked.

“What?”

“You were glaring really hard at the ground there. It do something to you?”

“No, it’s nothing. Forget about it.”

Aang turned around in her seat on top of Appa’s head.

“It’s not nothing. I think I feel it too. There’s something weird about the swamp. It feels like…”

“It’s calling to us.”

Everyone turned to Zuko who turned away and shrugged.

Sokka rolled his eyes.

“Great, weird magic feelings again.”

Iroh’s eyes narrowed but he remained quiet as he looked over at the swamp.

Sokka huffed.

“Is it at least telling you if there’s food down there?”

“No, it’s… I’m not really sure. Zuko?”

Aang turned in her seat to look back in the saddle.

Zuko shifted uncomfortably then looked back at the swamp.

“It’s saying to land.”

He quickly turned away and focused his eyes to the bottom of the saddle as if embarrassed by what he just said.

“Never mind it’s stupid, let’s just keep flying.”

Sokka glanced down at the swamp and crossed his arms to hold back a shudder.

“Yeah, no offense to the swamp, but we really need to find a place to get food, not wander around in the mud. Besides, I don’t really see any land to land on.”

Aang slumped a looked down at the swamp again.

“I don’t know.”

She turned back to Zuko.

“Bumi said that earth bending was about waiting and listening. I think you might want to listen when the actual earth is talking to you.”

Zuko didn’t respond, but Aang seemed to take it as an agreement and gave Appa the command to descend.

Katar looked over the side of the saddle and frowned.

“I don’t know Aang. There’s something ominous about this place.”

They continued going down and Momo skittered away to hide under the supplies while Appa let out a distressed groan.

Sokka turned to Aang and gestured vaguely to the two animals.

“See, even Momo and Aappa don’t like this place.”

Aang nodded and pulled on the rains to stop Appa from going down.

“Alright, since everyone feels so strongly about this we can leave, but it’s up to Zuko.”

Zuko’s head shot up.

“Me?”

“You’re the one who’s hearing the swamp the most. You should have a say in if we leave or not.”

“Oh.”

Zuko looked at the swamp again before quickly looking away.

“Yeah, we should go.”

Aang gave Zuko a look but turned around and flicked Appa’s rains.

“Ok, bye swamp. Appa, yip yip.”

Appa took off, seemingly happy to be getting away from the eerie swamp.

Iroh’s face grew dim as they flew away. He seemed to be wary of something but once again did not say anything.

-

They didn’t get very far, and a strong whirling sound appeared behind them. They turned to see what it was only to see a massive whirl wind right behind them and gaining fast.

“You might want to add another yip. We need to move!”

However, before Aang was able to do anything the twister hit and Sokka was almost pulled from the saddle. Katara and Zuko managed to grab him while trying to avoid getting swept up too. Aang then jumped in and created an air shield around them to buffer them from the winds. Zuko attempted to help once Sokka was secure but the twister was just too strong and eventually the shield broke, and they were all flung from the saddle.

-

Surprisingly, they all landed in the swamp relatively unharmed and in the same location. The only problem was they could not say the same for Appa and Momo as it was clear the two animals were far from where they had landed.

While Aang flew up to see if she could spot Appa from higher up the others tried to find some place dry so they wouldn’t be standing in waist deep water.

Katara then looked over to Sokka.

“Sokka, you’ve got an elbow leech.”

“Where?! Where?!”

Zuko grabbed Sokka’s arm and held it up.

“Where do you think?”

Sokka yanked the leech off and threw it back into the water as far away as he could.

“Why do things keep attaching to me?”

Aang then came back down.

“I couldn’t find them, but I also didn’t see the tornado either. It just disappeared.”

A heavy atmosphere settled over the group.

Sokka pulled out his machete and started hacking away at the vines blocking their path. Zuko flinched but didn’t say anything. Aang noticed this and turned to Sokka.

“Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp.”

“Aang, these are just plants. Do you want me to say please and thank you as I swing my machete back and forth?”

Aang looked to Katara and she stepped forward.

“I think you should listen to Aang. Something about this place feels… alive.”

“I’m sure there are lots of things that are alive here. And if we don’t want to end up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can.”

Aang’s fight left her at the mention of fining Appa and they group continued as Sokka hacked away a path for them.

Iroh paused before following and looked back into the grove. After a while he turned back and followed after the kids.

-

They continued walking until it got dark, Zuko and Iroh carrying fire in their hands to light the way. Still even with the fire there was little they could see through the dense fog and thick trees.

“Appa. Momo.”

Sokka stopped.

“There’s no way they can hear us or for us to see them. We should make camp for the night.”

Both Aang and Katara looked uncomfortable with the idea of stopping.

Iroh then turned from where he was looking at the tree line and his shoulders relaxed.

“Sokka is right. Solutions are more easily grasped with a clear head and rested eyes.”

Sokka nodded.

“See you guys trust Iroh’s judgment, right?”

The girls looked to each other and seemed to agree when a gurgle sound came from below them and they jumped.

“Relax it was just swamp gas. There is nothing supernatural about this swamp.”

Zuko quickly hid his shaking fists and turned to the group.

“Right we’re all just tired.”

A loud scream like call echoed through the trees and suddenly they were all clinging to each other. Sokka then stepped back and cleared his throat.

“But maybe we should still build a fire.”

He then went over to a cluster of roots and started hacking at them to get firewood.

Zuko flinched again and Aang looked to him worriedly.

“Sokka, I really don’t think you should be doing that.”

“No, I asked the swamp. It said it’s fine.”

He then made a show of asking the swamp if cutting the roots were alright and using a squeaky voice mimic the swamp’s reply as he shook another root. He then looked to Zuko to see if he could get a smile out of him, but his own smile fell at seeing how uncomfortable he looked.

“Zuko?”

Zuko looked at the ground and sighed before looking back to Sokka.

“You said to tell you when something made me uncomfortable, and I know it’s stupid and there’s no reason to think something bad will happen but…”

Sokka shook his head.

“No, I did tell you to speak up. Look if it really makes you guys that uncomfortable, I’ll stop the hacking and whacking for now.”

Iroh smiled.

“I’m sure between all of us we should be able to dry out enough fallen branches to build a fire without cutting anything down.”

A smile returned to Sokka’s face.

“Yeah, that should work.”

With Sokka and Aang gathering materials, Katara pulling the water out of them, and Zuko and Iroh keeping up the fire until everything caught ablaze, it wasn’t long until they had a nice fire going. They all huddled under a large hollowed out stump and got ready for the night.

-

Later that night, Iroh woke with a start and glanced around. His eyes landed on the kids who had all huddled closer in their sleep. Zuko was in the middle with Aang practically on top of him while also clinging onto Katara, and on the other side Sokka had flung an arm over all of them with his face buried in Zuko’s shoulder. They were all behind him as if instinctively seeking protection and a soft smile crossed his features.

Then suddenly he spun around as he felt something wrap around his leg. Fire ignited in his hands revealing a thick vine, twisting and moving all on its own. He quickly burned it away only for more vines to shoot out towards him. They were fended off easily but it clear not much later that they weren’t the real threat.

Four panicked yells came from behind him and he turned to see other vines had entangled around the kids and started dragging them off in different directions. Iroh was about to throw a fire ball to burn away the vines dragging them away, but was stopped when another vine grabbed his wrist and he was forced to burn it off before freeing the others. Unfortunately, that distraction took too long and by the time he turned back the children were gone.

-

Zuko was the first to free himself from the vines, burning through them in a blind panic. More vines shot out and trapped him again, but he burnt them away too until no more came for him. He looked around but amongst the dark fog it was impossible to tell which direction he’d come from let alone where the others were taken.

-

Sokka had gotten out of the vines by getting a hand free and slicing his way out with his machete he’d managed to grab before being dragged off. More vines had come for him as well, but he managed to evade them by tumbling down a large root and falling into the water. Once he was sure there were no more vines after him, he climbed out and headed in the direction he believed their camp had been.

-

The vines had stopped dragging Katara, but they hadn’t let her go. She pushed on them until one finally gave way and she took the opportunity to bend her water like a blade, slicing away the other vines that held her as well as any others that came. As soon as she got the chance, she darted off to avoid getting caught again.

-

The vines around Aang had stopped dragging her as well allowing her to bend a shield of air around her to push the vines away. She jumped far up into the branches of the nearest tree and shot herself as far away as she could before any more vines could arrive. She seemed to regret this action once she landed and realized she had no idea how to get back to the others.

-

Everyone wandered around the swamp trying to find each other until daybreak. Katara called out everyone’s names but got no answers. She turned and was taken aback by what she saw. In a clearing just ahead stood a woman dressed in blue, strands of hair tied back in a style similar to Katara’s.

Katara called out to her and stepped closer.

“Hello? Can you help me?”

The woman turned and Katara gasped.

“Mom?”

She quickly started running towards the woman hands reaching out.

“Mom!”

She grabbed the woman’s shoulder with tears in her eyes only to realize she was clutching and old tree stump. She took a step back before bursting into sobs.

-

Aang jumped around calling out names, including Appa and Momo’s when she saw a blur of yellow and orange next to her.

“What?”

There was another rush of color followed by the sound of wind blowing but everything was still. She blinked and saw it again only this time she could tell it was a person or several people, all dressed in air nomad clothing. They all had bald heads with arrow tattoos and were playing around with air bending like it was normal. That was except for one. There was a girl standing in the tree in front of her with long brown hair pulled into a braid. She appeared to be smiling but the rest of her face was in shadow.

“Hello?”

Aang tried to get closer but she still couldn’t see the girl’s face. Still there was something familiar about her. The girl put a finger to her lips and for a split second Aang saw a pair of bright gray eyes before the girl was gone. In her place was an owl-bat staring back at Aang.

-

Sokka hacked his way through limp vines and roots shouting everyone’s name as he did so.

“Stupid swamp. Dumb, ugly vines. You think you’re so tough, huh?”

The vine he’d been leaning against snapped and he fell face first into the mud. He got up with a frustrated grunt and froze at the sight before him. A beautiful girl in a flowing gown glowed with an ethereal light. Upon a closer look, he recognized the face of the girl.

“Yue?”

He grasped his head in his hands.

“This is just a trick of the light… swamp gas. I hit my head running away last night. I’m going crazy.”

He looked back and Yue was still there. She looked down on him with sad eyes.

“You couldn’t protect me.”

Her voice seemed to layer over another’s.

Sakka stepped back, blinking and she was gone. Sighing he turned to go only to jump back in fright at seeing Yue right in front of him.

She smiled.

“Keep them safe.”

Then she was gone.

-

Zuko didn’t yell for anyone he just walked in the straightest line he could while keeping his eyes open for any movement. Something moved to his left and he quickly spun to face it with his good eye.

On a large rock stood a young girl dressed in very expensive earth kingdom clothing and next to her was a flying bore.

Zuko frowned in confusion at the odd site.

“Who are you?”

The girl just laughed and ran off.

Zuko ran after her, but when he got to where she was supposed to be, she somehow ended up behind him. He continued to chase the strangely disappearing and reappearing girl but was never able to catch her.

-

Iroh’s hands shook as he made his way through the swamp. He had gone in the direction he’d seen Zuko be dragged but still had not found him.

“Father?”

Iroh stopped and turned to the voice. There standing in the shadow of a fallen tree was a young man dressed in Fire Nation armor. His hair was pulled into a top knot and he wore a hopeful expression.

Iroh smiled at the man.

“I am sorry, my son. But I am needed elsewhere.”

Lu Ten nodded and pointed in the direction Iroh was walking.

“Thank you. I will see you again, but not now.”

Lu Ten closed his eyes and disappeared with a smile.

-

Zuko ran after the girl again only to suddenly stop when he nearly ran into Katara. Her startled shout alerted Aang and Sokka who apparently weren’t that far away. Aang jumped down from a tree and Sokka rushed in from behind a thick curtain of moss.

“Where have you guys been? I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Katara turned to her brother.

“Well, I’ve been wandering around looking for you.”

“I was… chasing a weird girl.”

They turned to Zuko who shrugged.

“She just appeared out of nowhere and kept running away when I tried to talk to her.”

Aang tilted her head.

“What did she look like.”

“She was wearing high class earth kingdom clothes and had a pet flying boar.”

Aang deflated.

“So, it was different than the girl I saw.”

“You saw a girl too.”

Aang nodded.

“Yeah and a whole bunch of other air nomads, but then they all just disappeared.”

“Well, there must of been a dress up party and we didn’t get out invitations.”

Katara frowned.

“I thought I saw Mom.”

Sokka grew quiet at that.

“Look we were all just scared and hungry, and our minds were playing tricks on us. That’s why we all saw things out here.”

“You saw something too?”

Sokka turned and looked at the ground.

“I thought I saw Yue.”

Zuko stiffened, but Sokka didn’t see.

“But that doesn’t prove anything. Come on we need to find Iroh and Appa and get out of here.”

That was when Iroh appeared and gave a relieved smile at seeing them.

“I am glad to have finally found you all and to see that you are unharmed.”

“Uncle. How did you find us?”

“I was led here by a helpful vision.”

Aang looked thoughtful.

“So, we all saw something. And they all led us here.”

“Ok so where’s here?”

Katara looked around.

“The middle of the swamp?”

“Yeah, that looks about right.”

Everyone looked to where Zuko was looking and saw a massive tree that towered over all the others.

“It… it was calling us here.”

Sokka rolled his eyes.

“It’s just a tree. It can’t call anyone. For the last time there’s nothing magical happening in this swamp.”

As soon as he said that something came crashing out from beneath the water next to them. The water dropped away to reveal a huge creature made of vines and other plants with a wooden mask acting as it’s face.

Everyone screamed in fright then bolted as the thing swung at them. The vines in its arms shot out and wrapped themselves around Sokka, lifting him into the air. Zuko jumped to try and burn him free but was swatted away by another vine. Sokka was only freed when Aang shot a violently compressed bolt of air at the monster, slicing its whole arm off. In retaliation the creatures swung its other arm at her and knocked her hard enough to send her flying.

Zuko and Sokka burned and hacked away at the vines still writhing around Sokka. Then the vines suddenly changed course and fused back into the monster, fixing its arm. It grabbed for Sokka again but Zuko pushed him out of the way just in time.

That was when Katara jumped in on a wave of water and shot a slicing stream through a good two feet of the creature’s shoulder. It stumbled back, but vines quickly spouted from the cut to heal the gash.

It then launched its arms out and grabbed both Sokka and Zuko, constricting them in its grip. This resulted in Katara retaliating by sending a giant wave at it, casing it to crash into a tree. Still it did not drop the boys. Instead it sent out a mass of vines from its torso that sent Katara flying back.

She landed next to where Aang had and was being helped up by Iroh, causing them to turn to the commotion. They watched in horror as the monster placed Zuko and Sokka into its torso and the vines started to pull them inside.

That seemed to be the breaking point for Iroh and he sent a jet of flame at the creatures head. Once hit, the monster rocked back allowing Aang and Katara to jump back into the fight.

Aang kept the monster off balance while Katara froze the vines surrounding the boys and yanked them out. Now both burned and with a gaping hole in its middle the monster seemed to give pause, but only for a moment. It raised its arms and more vines rose up to fuse with its body and repair the damage.

Aang came down from the trees to attack it but was once again tossed to the side.

Katara then sent blades of water at the creature, slicing through it too fast for it to grow back. As she did this the sliced vines fell away to reveal a human hand and torso. The hand quickly came up and vines covered it once more, but they had all seen it.

Zuko turned to Sokka.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes. There’s someone in there. He’s bending the vines.”

Both Katara and Zuko shot another huge water blade at the monster, slicing the top of it clean off.

The person tried to bend the vines back into shape but Zuko wasn’t having it. He blasted the vines with fire and glared at what was left.

“Why did you call us here if you were only going to kill us?”

“Wait!”

The last of the vines fell away to reveal a man with shaggy gray hair and a beard, wearing only a loincloth made of leaves.

“I didn’t call you here.”

Zuko exchanged a look with Katara and Sokka, as Aang and Iroh came back over. They all turned back to the man.

“We were flying over the swamp when I heard something calling out to us.”

Sokka pointed to Zuko.

“He’s the Avatar, if that makes more sense.”

The man looked to Zuko.

“The Avatar. Come with me.”

He held his hand out towards the giant tree.

With no reason to decline the group followed the man up the tree.

“So, who are you then?”

The man bent away a large chunk of moss blocking their way.

“I protect the swamp from those who wish to hurt it. Like this fellow with his big knife.”

“Hey I stopped.”

“Really? ‘Cause you went right back to it when your boyfriend wasn’t around to give you sad eyes.”

Both Sokka and Zuko’s faces went red.

“I wasn’t giving him sad eyes!”

“You’re vines attacked us!”

Aang and Katara hid their snickers behind their hands as Iroh gave an amused smile.

Sokka huffed and crossed his arms.

“Whatever, still proves my point that everything that happened was completely reasonable. No monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it.”

“Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right. It’s sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan grove tree. I heard it calling me, just like you did.”

Sokka looked at the tree skeptically.

“Sure you did. It seems real chatty.”

The man sat down at where the trunk of the tree met its roots.

“You see this whole swamp is actually just one big tree spread out over miles. Branches spread then sink and take root then spread some more. One big, living organism, just like the entire world.”

They looked to the tree then back to the man. Aang sat down an placed her hand on the tree.

“I understand the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?”

The man nodded.

“Sure, you think you’re any different from me, or your friends, or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We’re all living together, even if most folk don’t act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree.”

Katara sat down next to Aang.

“But what about our visions? What did they mean?”

“In the swamp, we see visions of people we’ve lost, people we loved, and think are gone. But the swamp tells us they’re not. We’re still connected to them, no matter how much time has passed.”

Aang looked out over the swamp, obviously thinking of all the air benders she’d seen that had died a century ago.

“Time is an illusion, and so is death.”

Zuko, however, seemed confused.

“But then what about me? I never met that girl before.”

“You’re the Avatar, you tell me.”

Zuko still looked confused. Thankfully Aang seemed to get it.

“I think it means it’s someone you will meet.”

The man smiled.

Sokka got up and stretched.

“Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo.”

Zuko looked at the tree and became thoughtful.

“I think I have an idea on how to find them.”

He bit his lip nervously and placed his hand on the tree. He let out a breath and closed his eyes.

“Everything is connected.”

A glow appeared around his hand seemed to flow into the tree and into the swamp. His eyes then shot open and he looked to Aang.

“I found them, but they’re in trouble.”

Aang then jumped up.

“We got to hurry.”

-

A group of men dressed similar to the man who’d bent the vines were dragging Appa in a net behind their canoes. Just then a violent gust of wind came out of nowhere and knocked the men flying out of their boats.

“Appa!”

Aang landed on a nearby tree followed by the rest of the group running behind her.

One of the men yelled they were under attack and bent a wave of water at them, which Katara bent back at them.

“Hey, you guys are water benders.”

The man smiled up at her.

“You too? That means we’re kin.”

The water dropped and Katara made a face.

The man who told them about the tree then came and the other water bender smiled.

“Oh hey, Huu. How you been?”

“You know, scare some folks, swung some vines, the usual.”

-

Huu managed to clear everything up and Appa and Momo were let go. The group was then invited to dinner and they accepted. Mostly due to Sokka’s insistance.

“So how you guys like that opossum chicken?”

Sokka held up his kabob.

“Tastes just like artic hen. So why were you guys so interested in eating Appa? You got plenty of those big things wandering around.”

He pointed to the catfish gator lounging near the camp.

“You want me to eat Old Slim? He’s like family.”

The man threw a fish at the gator who ate it in one bite. It didn’t go to well when Sokka attempted to do the same and the man laughed.

“Oh, he don’t eat no bugs. That’s people food.”

Sokka huffed before turning back to the group.

“Well I hope you realize now, that nothing strange was going on here. Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp.”

Katara frowned.

“What about the visions?”

“I told you, we were hungry. I’m eating a giant bug!”

He took a bight and made a face to emphasize his point.

“But what about when the tree showed Zuko where to find Appa and Momo?”

“That’s Avatar stuff. That doesn’t count.”

He looked to Huu.

“The only thing I can’t figure out is how you made the tornado that sucked us down.”

“I can’t do anything like that. I just bend the water in the plants.”

Sokka shrugged.

“Well, no accounting for weather. Still there’s absolutely nothing mysterious about this swamp.”

Deeper into the swamp a screaming bird let out it’s call and a root knocked it away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone guess what theory I was referencing with Aang's vision?


	7. Avatar Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp in my attempt to make this feel natural and not too convoluted I ended up with a huge bucket of Aang angst, with a dash of Zuko angst because that just how he is.  
> I still tried to balance it out.  
> Think I might have figured out what to do with Iroh now at least.

After leaving the swamp and flying for a few hours the group made camp in a small clearing. Hours later Sokka was rudely awaken by Momo shoving a furry paw into this mouth, causing him to splutter and shout in surprise.

“Ah! Momo, we need to have a serious talk about boundaries!”

Momo’s ears perked but it wasn’t from Sokka’s shouting. Instead he seemed to be listening to something deeper in the forest.

Then the ground started to rumble, waking everyone who hadn’t already been woken by Sokka’s shouts.

Through the trees burst four men in distinctive red armor, riding atop komodo rhinos.

“Surrender, you are completely surrounded.”

Everything was chaos after that as they all run to Appa to get away. They nearly took off before both Katara and Aang ran back to get their scrolls and staff before everyone gets on and Appa takes off. They would have delayed a third time if they had let Sokka grab his boomerang, but they were already in the air by that point.

“Oh, I see. So there’s time to get your scrolls and time to get Aang’s staff, but no time to get my boomerang?”

Katara smiled.

“That’s correct.”

“We didn’t have time to get anything. We almost didn’t make it because of you two.”

Zuko sent both girls an angry look. Aang wilted in guilt but Katara just scowled.

-

They landed next to a little market outpost just outside of a nearby town. While Katara bought some supplies to replace some of the stuff they had to leave behind Sokka sat on the ground and sulked. Aang went over to try and talk to him.

“Sorry about your boomerang.”

“I feel like I’ve lost part of my identity. I’ve just had it so long that it’s become a part of me.”

He stood up to stand next to Katara who gave him a hug.

The man behind the counter placed a basket next to Sokka

“Here’s your produce, ponytail guy.”

Sokka slumped, while Aang covered her mouth to hide her giggle.

“Sorry, it’s just that kind of used to be Zuko’s nickname before he cut the ponytail off.”

Normally Sokka would make a joke but he just looked at the grouned and moped.

“I used to be boomerang guy.”

Sokka picked up the basket and headed over to put it with their other new supplies.

Katara payed the merchant and he smiled.

“Hey Water Tribe Money.”

“I hope that’s ok.”

“As long as it’s money.”

He pocketed the coins.

“Have a nice Avatar Day.”

Everyone looked to the merchant as he packed up his stall.

“Avatar Day?”

Aang glanced to Zuko.

The merchant didn’t seem to notice and just smiled as he walked down the road towards town.

“You’re going to the festival, right?”

Aang’s face lit up and no one could say no to her even if they wanted to.

-

The town streets were packed with people as paper lanterns decorated the buildings and music played. There were also many stalls selling food and souvenirs. Zuko handed Sokka a fried bun which made Sokka smile for the first time since loosing his boomerang.

Then the music changed, and everyone started to crowd around the sides of the main street. The group managed to find a good spot to see and watched as giant floats went by.

Katara pointed up the street.

“Look they made a giant Kyoshi float.”

“And here comes Avatar Roku.”

Both floats passed by as they all watched with their own typical level of excitement. Aang’s eyes then lit up even more as the last float was revealed.

“Guys look!”

Everyone looked up to see it was of a figure dressed in black waring a blue spirit mask then turned to Zuko. His face flushed at the attention.

“Isn’t this a bit much?”

“Of course not! You’re a hero. All the Avatars deserve to be celebrated for the great things they’ve done.”

Zuko looked to Aang.

“Then you should get a float too.”

Aang’s face became sheepish as she looked away, face red.

“I don’t know. I didn’t really do much when I was the Avatar.”

Before anyone had time to respond the crowd brought there attention back to the parade. The floats had all been lined up in the center of town and a man carrying a torch ran down the street towards them.

“What’s that guy doing?”

The man than burst through the Kyoshi float, setting it on fire as he did so. He then lit the other two floats on fire as the crowd cheered.

“Down with the Avatar! Down with the Avatar!”

The man then climbed onto the balcony of a nearby building and threw the torch at the float depicting Zuko in his mask. It landed on the left eye catching it ablaze and Zuko sucked in a harsh breath.

That reaction was all it took for Aang. It was clear she didn’t think as she jumped onto the float and smothered the fire with a large gust of wind.

“That party pooper is running Avatar Day.”

The crowd started booing and Aang turned to face them with a furious gaze.

“What is wrong with you?! The Avatar is a hero.”

She was cut off by a man pointing dual broadswords at her. The other three kids were about to run out to defend her but Iroh held up a hand to stop them.

A man in more elaborate robes then the other towns people and a rather impractical looking hat, presumably the mayor, came up to Aang.

“Hero you say. Hardly. It was Avatar Kyoshi. She murdered our glorious leader, Chin the Great.”

“You think the Avatar... killed someone?”

“Yes, we used to be great a society before the Avatar killed our leader.”

The man holding the twin blades flailed then around, forcing everyone around him to duck to avoid getting sliced.

Katara ignored Iroh’s attempt to keep them out of conflict and ran out next to Aang.

“No Avatar would ever do something like that, and even if Kyoshi did, it’s not fair for you all to blame every Avatar after her for it.”

The mayor scoffed.

“All Avatars are responsible for the actions of the ones who came before them.”

Aang winced.

The mayor then crossed his arms and looked to Katara.

“Now please move aside unless you wish to be arrested as well.”

Aang’s head shot up.

“Arrested?”

“You caused a disturbance and ruined our most celebrated holiday. Did you not think there would be consequences?”

Katara bent the water from nearby barrels but Aang placed a hand on her shoulder.

“No Katara.”

She glanced to Sokka and Zuko who looked ready to jump into the fight to let them know she was addressing them too.

“I did ruin their holiday, even if I disagree with it, I need to face the consequences of my actions.”

Katara’s hands shook as she dropped the water.

“They can’t just lock you up for defending someone’s honor.”

Someone called out from the crowd.

“This is what we think of the Avatar’s honor.”

Then proceeded to blow a raspberry as he stuck out his behind.

Zuko looked ready to char the guy where he stood but was held back by both Iroh and Sokka.

The mayor cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention again.

“There will be a trial tomorrow. If it can be proven that she was right in defending the Avatar, then she will go free. If not, then she will face her punishment.”

Aang nodded.

“It’s a deal.”

“Then you agree to follow all our rules. That includes paying bail.”

“No problem.”

-

A few moments later Aang found herself locked in the town’s jail.

“How was I supposed to know they wouldn’t accept water tribe money?”

Zuko glared at the bars.

“This is stupid. Why are we going along with this?”

“Because if we can solve this peacefully then we should. These people are angry. Responding to anger with violence only results in more violence.”

Zuko’s scowl deepened.

“I’m going for a walk.”

Everyone watched him stomp out.

Sokka then turned to Iroh.

“Is it a good idea to let an angry Avatar loos in an Avatar hating town?”

Iroh made a pained face.

“I’ll go keep an eye on him.”

Iroh then quickly hurried after Zuko.

Katara placed a hand on Aang’s shoulder through the bars.

“Don’t worry Aang we’ll prove Kyoshi was innocent and get you out without fighting.”

Aang gave her a smile.

“Thanks, Katara.”

Sokka crossed his arms.

“How are we going to do that? The crime happened over three hundred years ago.”

Aang put up her hands.

“That’s ok, Sokka. For some reason, I thought you were an expert detective.”

Sokka perked up at that.

“Well I guess I could be classified as such.”

He then started narrating the story about how he’d discovered who’d been eating all the seal jerky, while Aang gave Katara a look showing she’d known exactly what she was doing.

-

As Zuko walked he noticed the guy who’d threatened Aang with his swords showing off to a couple of women and telling a very exaggerated story of what had happened.

“You pointed your swords at a kid and then nearly gouged several people’s eyes out as you flung them around without thinking. Do you even know how to use those?”

The man turned around and glared at Zuko.

“And you do?”

“I know enough that I don’t have to pick fights with children to feel strong.”

The man’s face was beat red at that point.

“You looking for a fight punk?”

Zuko took a fighting stance.

“It won’t be much of a fight.”

-

Later Iroh brought Zuko back to Sokka and Katara, a pare of broadswords strapped to his back.

“Great you’re back we got to go.”

Zuko looked to Katara for an explanation as Sokka ran towards Appa.

“The mayor said Kyoshi came out of a temple to attack Chin, but Sokka found out that the temple had to have been build after Chin had already died. It’s a huge hole in the story but it’s not enough to clear Kyoshi’s name and prove Aang right. So, we’re going to Kyoshi Island to see if we can find anything else out.”

“Oh.”

Iroh smiled.

“That sounds like a good plan. I will stay behind to keep an eye out for Aang until you return.”

“Thank you, Iroh.”

Katara then headed towards Appa as well with Zuko following her.

Once next to the bison, Zuko took in Sokka’s appearance. He was holding a pipe shaped like a dragon and wearing a hat that almost matched the mayor’s hat in absurdity.

Sokka turned around and gave a confused frown at seeing Zuko.

“Are those the swords that guy threatened Aang with?”

Zuko climbed onto Appa.

“Don’t ask about the swords and I won’t ask about the hat.”

“What’s wrong with my hat?”

-

Katara looked over the water and smiled.

“It’ll be nice to see Kyoshi Island again.”

“Maybe for you.”

They turned to Zuko who was curled up in the saddle, chin resting on his knees.

“Hey, don’t worry, these guys are like obsessed with the Avatar. Once they learn you’re on the right side they’ll love you.”

Zuko looked back at Sokka with a skeptical look.

“Really?”

“Of course, and even if they don’t Suki will, and she’ll get them to listen to her.”

Zuko’s face morphed from skeptical to confused.

“Who’s Suki?”

Sokka’s eyes lit up.

“Oh man, Suki’s amazing. She’s the leader of the Kyoshi warriors and just a great person overall. I wasn’t very nice to her at first but after I apologized, she forgave me and was really nice. She even showed me some moves and taught me to fight better.”

“So that’s why you were dressed like that.”

“Yeah, who knew a dress could work as such good armor?”

Zuko watched Sokka continue to excitably talk about Suki and slowly his body uncurled from the tight ball he’d been in.

-

As soon as people saw Appa they all started gathering outside to greet them. However, when they saw Zuko everyone gasped and went absolutely quiet. Zuko was like a fox-deer in lamp light, frozen and trapped under the gazes of so many people.

Thankfully Sokka was there to rescue him and slung an arm around his shoulders.

“Yeah, Zuko’s on our side now.”

The crowd erupted into cheers; one guy even started foaming at the mouth in his excitement. Several young girls then swarmed around Zuko asking him a hundred questions at once. The frozen deer look came back, although less dread filled this time.

One of the girls then looked around and frowned.

“Where’s Aangy.”

Many of the other girls stopped hounding Zuko and look around for the air bender that had played with them and showed off tricks.

Katara and Sokka exchange frowns before Katara turned back to the girl.

“She couldn’t be here, Koko.”

The girls look disappointed.

Katara then spotted the mayor as he came up to them.

“Oyaji, Aangs in jail. The town of Chin says Kyoshi murdered their leader and arrested Aang for defending her.”

Oyaji eyes went wide.

“What? Kyoshi would never do something like that. Aang was in the right to defend her. I’ll take you to Kyoshi’s shrine. Maybe something there will help you clear her name.”

Oyaji turned to lead them to the shrine, Sokka having to pull Zuko away from the girls who’d latched back onto him.

As they walked, they passed by the training hall and Sokka looked a little too long at it.

“So, uh… What’s Suki up to? Is she around?”

“Actually, she and the other warriors left to fight in the war. You kids had a big impact on Suki. She said you inspired her, and she wanted to help change the world.”

“Oh well… that’s great.”

Sokka glanced back to the training hall a bit disappointed.

-

It wasn’t long until they reached the shrine and Oyaji held his hands out towards it.

“This temple was converted into a shrine for Kyoshi.”

They walked around the room looking at the displays of Kyoshi’s belongings, Sokka taking on the role of detective. While Katara looked over the kimono and Sokka inspected the fans, Zuko looked over the paintings along the walls. One showed Kyoshi with another woman in old Fire Nation armor. They were both in fighting stances but the looks they were giving each other were full of love.

His attention was pulled back to the others when Katara made an exclamation of excitement. Something about how Kyoshi’s feet didn’t match the small footprint they were shown which Sokka then interrupted, saying that he was the detective and Zuko hid his smile at Sokka’s antics.

-

Back in the town of Chin, Iroh went back to the jail to talk to inform Aang of what was going on. The information seemed to relax her a bit, but something still looked to be weighing on her.

“Do not worry. They will find a way to prove you were right and win your freedom.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they will.”

“There is something other than the trial bothering you.”

It’s a statement not a question and Aang slumps.

“The mayor said that the Avatar is responsible for all the past Avatar’s actions, but Zuko shouldn’t be held responsible for my mistakes.”

“I see, but you do understand that regardless of who is responsible your actions today were not in the wrong, and even if they were, you are no longer the Avatar. You’re actions now are your own, not the Avatars.”

“I’m not talking about my actions now. I’m talking about when I was the Avatar.”

Iroh’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean a hundred years ago when I was the Avatar the high monks decided that I needed more intense training that Monk Gyatso wasn’t giving me. So, they were going to send me away to the Western Temple. They were going to take me from my home, my family, just because I could bend three more elements. I couldn’t handle that, so I ran away. Yeah, I know, I didn’t want everything taken away, so I ended up leaving it behind. It was stupid but I wasn’t really thinking. I don’t know what I would have done but while I was flying, I saw a storm. I thought about just flying through it but ended up turning around and going back to the temple.”

Aangs breath hitched.

“I’d been flying for hours so by the time I got back the Fire Nation was already there. The Fire Nation attacked the temple and I wasn’t there to protect it like I was supposed to, and they’d been there for a while. When I finally landed, the only thing I was able to do was stop the soldiers chasing the acolytes down the evacuation tunnels. Everyone else was gone.”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“If I hadn’t been so stupid and ran away, I could have helped more, saved more.”

The tears had started falling down her cheeks.

“I almost didn’t even turn back. If that storm wasn’t there or if I decided to just go through it, I wouldn’t have even done that much.”

Iroh reached through the bars and held her as close as he was able.

“Oh Aang, no. Do not blame yourself for the atrocities of others. No matter the choices you made back then what happened was not your fault.”

“But I was the Avatar. It was my job.”

“Shh. You couldn’t have known what Sozin was planning. When you learned what was happening you did everything in your power to help. You did exactly what you were supposed to do.”

Aang looked up at Iroh.

“Really?”

Iroh smiled warmly.

“Really.”

Aang smiled and tried to wipe away her tears but they were still coming.

“It’s still alright to cry.”

Aang nodded and continued to cry into Iroh’s chest, both of them wishing the bars weren’t in the way.

-

After Sokka finished deducting what everyone already knew, Oyaji motioned to a large painting propped against the back wall. It depicted Kyoshi standing on the shores of the island as people dressed in the light gray blues of the Kyoshi citizens looked up at her.

“This piece is called ‘The Birth of Kyoshi.’ It was painted at sunrise on the day this island was founded. Why it was today in fact, 370 years ago.”

Sokka choked on his own spit before turning to Oyaji.

“370 years? Wait are you sure it was today?”

Oyaji stepped back from Sokka.

“Considering it is Kyoshi Day, I am sure.”

Sokka looked over the painting and his eyes lit up even more.

“This wasn’t painted at sunrise it was painted at sunset.

Zuko looked at the painting before catching on.

“The shadows. They’re pointing East.”

Katara stepped closer to the painting.

“So, the sun must have been in the West.”

Oyaji didn’t seem to understand so Sokka started to narrate.

“If Kyoshi was in the ceremony at sunset, she couldn’t have been killing Chin at the same time.”

“That means she’s innocent. Aang was right! That means she can go free.”

-

They flew Appa back to Chin and arranged a meeting with the mayor just as the sun was setting. They all agreed that Katara would be the one to talk.

“Honorable Mayor, we’ve prepared a solid defense for Aang. Proving she was right to defend Kyoshi. We did an investigation and found some very strong evidence.”

The mayor scoffed.

“Evidence? Ha! That’s not how our court system works.”

Everyone turned to each other confused by the mayor’s statement.

“Then how can I prove what I did wasn’t wrong?”

The mayor grinned.

“Simple. I say what happened, and then you say what happened, and I decide who’s right.”

Everyone gasped at the blatant bias and Zuko looked ready to lunge, only being held back in time by Iroh.

The mayor’s smiled smugly at Aang.

“That’s why we call it justice, because it’s just us.”

He burst into laughter and walked out. The large flap of fabric on his hat flopped around as he did so, making it even more obnoxious.

“That’s it. We’re breaking you out.”

“Zuko no. We still have a chance of resolving this peacefully.”

“No, we don’t. You heard what the mayor said. He’s not going to listen to you. He just wants someone to blame and hold power over.”

“Let me at least try. If things go south during the trial, we’ll fight our way out, but these are still the people we’re trying to protect. I don’t want to fight them if we don’t have to.”

“I’m not going to watch you get hurt just because you said something the mayor didn’t like.”

Iroh’s eyes widened and he quickly followed after Zuko as he left.

-

The next morning came and the town gathered in the courtyard for the trial. The mayor told his story, poorly with many holes and inconsistencies, then Aang was left to speak. She stepped up in front of the crowd and gulped.

“Um… well Kyoshi was a very big woman with very large feet. So that footprint couldn’t be hers.”

She pointed to the footprint on the cliff behind her. Then looked to Sokka and Katara who nodded encouragingly.

Aang took a breath and continued to present the evidence more confidently. When she was done, she looked to the mayor who was frowning. He then sniffed and crossed his arms.

“My verdict is… that I am right.”

“What? But I just told you how what you said was wrong.”

“Exactly, the rules are that you say what happened after I said what happened. You never said what happened just how what I said couldn’t have happened.”

“But that’s not fair.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ve given my verdict, the trial is over.”

Just then a large fireball landed next to the mayor and he shrieked.

Everyone turned to the source to see Zuko, wearing his blue spirit mask, standing on top of the temple.

The crowed gasped and the mayor pointed up at him.

“It’s the Avatar himself!”

Zuko jumped down and stepped in front of Aang, taking a defensive stance.

“Guards, arrest the Avatar!”

Armed men started to make their way to the courtyard but were stopped as a sudden wind swept through and centered on Zuko. When the winds died down in the place of Zuko, stood Avatar Kyoshi. She looked down at the mayor as if he were an ant then looked to the crowd.

“You dare call this justice when corruption is all it stands for? If you wish to know what truly happened 370 years ago today, then I will tell you.”

Kyoshi did not tell the story of a great leader but one of a horrible tyrant, taking power by sending his armies across the continent. When he got to the peninsula where Kyoshi and her followers lived, she warned him she would not sit passively while he destroyed their home. In her actions to keep her people safe she split the peninsula from the mainland, creating Kyoshi Island, and letting Chin die in the process.

“Yes, I take responsibility for his death, but my actions are my actions alone. To blame my predecessors for things they did not do or to attack a child for disagreeing with your narrative is cowardly. There is no justice here.”

She sliced down her fan creating a blade like gust of air, which cut the ridiculous piece of fabric from the mayor’s hat then disappeared leaving an exhausted Zuko behind. He held a hand to his head as Aang held out a hand to him, and the others ran to his side.

The mayor then cleared his throat and all eyes turned to him.

“Well that’s a confession of I ever heard one. Guards!”

The guards continued to head towards the courtyard only to stop once again, as a grenade flew into the temple, blowing it up.

“We’ve come to claim this town for the Firer Lord!”

It was the komodo rhino riding soldiers from the day before. People started screaming as they had nowhere to run.

The group started to run towards the cliff where Appa was waiting but Aang planted her feet and pulled back on Zuko’s arm.

“No, we can’t just leave these people. They need our help.”

Sokka looked at Aang as if she’d grown a second head.

“Are you serious? These guys just tried to lock you up for not worshiping their tyrant leader.”

“No, Aang’s right. They may not be great people but that’s no reason to leave them to the Fire Nation.”

Zuko looked out towards the panicking towns people and nodded before rushing into the fight.

One rhino was heading for the mayor and was quickly thrown off by a gust of wind from Aang. The rhino still snagged the mayor’s robes on one of its horns and tore a rather large whole though.

As the fight continues the leader of the soldiers called out to his men.

“Rough Rhinos to the town!”

They all turned around and started to burn the buildings and smash wagons. Katara created an ice shield to deflect the metal ball and chain one of the Rough Rhinos was using. It then came back around and wrapped around the man, pinning his arms to his sides.

Meanwhile Sokka used the magnifying glass attached to his hat to focus light into the archer’s eyes. Unable to see the archer let loos his flaming arrows at the man with explosives. The explosives user tried to throw his burning bag away, but it hit the side of a building causing it to collapse on him. The explosion also knocked another bag off the man. It landed next to Sokka revealing his boomerang inside.

“Boomerang!”

He hugged the weapon close.

“You do always come back.”

As the others continued to fight off the other Rough Rhinos Zuko stared down their leader. Streams of fire shot from the man’s hands but were easily redirected and sent back at him. This caused him to unbalance and tumble from his rhino, but he was back on his feet before Zuko could take advantage. They traded blows for some time until Zuko got the upper hand and knocked him through a fence, knocking him out.

-

Fireworks lit up the night sky as the Mayor made an announcement.

“From now on we’ll celebrate a new Avatar Day. In honor of the day the Avatar and his friends saved us from the Rough Rhino invasion.”

The group decided it was best not to stay long and were on Appa before the festival really got started.

“By far the worst town we’ve ever visited.”

No one disagreed.


	8. The Blind Bandit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Juggling characters got really hard this chapter.  
> I focused so much on how I gave Aang a similar backstory to Toph I kinda forgot about everyone else until I had most of the chapter done. Oops.  
> Hope I at least made it believable why Zuko was so quiet.

The group stopped at another town and instantly could tell it was much wealthier then the previous one. As they walked down the shopping district Sokka spotted a very well-crafted tote bag displayed outside of one the shops. However, at seeing the price he started to agonize if it was actually worth getting.

“It’s pricy, but I do really like it.”

“Then you should get it. We have the money now and you deserve something nice.”

“I do, don’t I?”

He then deflated.

“But no, it’s too expensive. I shouldn’t.”

“Alright then don’t get it.”

“But…”

Zuko then stepped in, threw the money into the store owner’s hands, and shoved the bag at Sokka.

“Here, just take the stupid bag.”

Sokka’s eyes lit up with joy and hugged the bag close.

-

As the teenagers were discussing the bag Aang was approached by an average looking man holding a handful of flyers.

“Hey kid, you like earth bending?”

Iroh turned to watch the exchange out of the corner of his eye.

Aang looked up at the man.

“Well my friend is looking for an earth bending teacher.”

“That’s great, then your friend should check out Master Yu’s earth bending academy.”

He handed her a flyer and then walked off. Iroh relaxed at seeing the conversation had gone smoothly and turned to Aang.

“What did that nice man give you?”

Aang held up the flyer as the other kids came back over to them.

“It’s a flyer for an earth bending school.”

She then turned it around.

“And look there’s a coupon for a free lesson on the back.”

She smiled up at Zuko.

“No.”

“But…”

“I said no. I’m not learning earth bending from a guy who has to use shady sales tactics to advertise his school.”

“But you need to learn earth bending. Would it really hurt to just check it out?”

Aang looked up at Zuko with the largest puppy eyes she could manage.

“Fine we’ll go take a look, but I’m not taking any lessons.”

-

The school wasn’t exactly what one would expect an earth bending school to look like. It had pristine white walls decorated with fine pottery and everything sparkled as if it had just been cleaned. Nothing really showed that kids were throwing rocks around.

They finally found the training area where a man, practically oozing self-importance, looked over two rows of students. The row on the left had a large bowler at their feet while the row on the right did not.

“Alright left row strike as if you’re punching through your opponent’s head! Right, I want you to retaliate like a charging rhino-bull!”

Rocks went flying and by the end half the kids were on the ground groaning in pain.

“Very good. That concludes the free lesson. If you wish to continue, remember to tell your parents that if they pay for the full year in advance, I’ll bump you up to the next belt.”

The group just stared as they tried to process what they just witnessed.

“And we’re leaving now.”

Everyone just nodded and followed Sokka out.

-

“Well that was a bust.”

“Told you I wasn’t going to learn there.”

Aang looked at the ground.

“I’m sorry, I just know it’s important for you to find an earth bending teacher and I wanted to help.”

Katara placed a hand on Aang’s shoulder.

“Don’t be. A school was actually a pretty good place to start, just not one that profits off it’s students.”

Their attention was then taken by two students leaving the school, talking loudly about someone named The Bolder.

“He’s going to have to fight his way through the best earth benders in the world to even get a shot at the champ.”

At the line of ‘best earth benders in the world’ Aang’s eyes lit up.

“Aang no.”

But she was already chasing after the two boys.

“Hey, where is this earth bending tournament exactly?”

The boys looked to Aang and snickered.

“It’s on the Island of Noneya. None of your business.”

The boys laughed as they walked away.

Sokka also snorted a laugh but quickly stopped at Aang’s dejected look. Katara exchanged a look with Zuko who nodded, and she placed a hand on Aang’s upper arm.

“I’ll take care of this.”

Katara followed the boys around the corner.

For a moment Aang looked like she was about to follow but was distracted by Sokka trying to get Momo out of his new bag. When she turned back, Katara was already coming back down the street with a wide grin.

“I got directions.”

Aang lit up.

“How’d you get them to tell you?”

Katara smiled innocently.

“Oh, I have my ways.”

Back in the alley the two boys were suspended horizontally in chunks of ice.

-

Outside the town people gathered around a large cave in the side of a cliff. Inside was a massive underground stadium with a raised platform in the center. The kids went in while Iroh told them he would be waiting outside for them. Something about too many leaves and bitter blends. None of them had really been able to decipher that metaphor.

So, after leaving Iroh outside with Appa and Momo the kids went to go take their seats. Which they quickly changed after realizing why the front row was unoccupied.

An explosion of rock came from the platform and a man with long black hair appeared from the dust.

“Welcome to Earth Rumble 6. I am your host, Xin Fu!”

The crowd erupted in cheers.

“The rules are simple. Just knock the other guy out of the ring, and you win.”

The bell rang and Sokka and Aang cheered along with the crowd. Katara and Zuko were less impressed.

“This is just going to be a bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other, isn’t it?”

Sokka’s smile grew wider, not seeming to hear the disillusionment in his sister’s voice.

“That’s what I paid for.”

“Round one. The Boulder…”

A large, muscled man with a badger mole tattoo on his back, flexed at the audience.

“…vs. the Big Bad Hippo.”

Another much larger man with a large underbite cried out, revealing four large blunt teeth.

The Boulder started smack talking his opponent which angered him, and it wasn’t long until giant slabs of rock were flying through the air. Xin Fu narrated the fight, getting the audience hyped until The Boulder finally launched the Big Bad Hippo off the platform by lifting the floor beneath him and sending him flying.

“The Boulder wins!”

The crowd went nuts.

Aang and Katara looked to Zuko questioningly but shook his head.

“I don’t think The Boulder is the teaching type.”

Aang nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, he’s not really listening to the earth, just his big muscles. What do you think, Sokka?”

Sokka didn’t look like he heard them as he was too busy cheering on The Boulder, stars in his eyes.

-

They continued to watch several more rounds where The Boulder decimated his competition, until the final match was announced.

“Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The Boulder vs. your champion, The Blind Bandit!”

As she was announced a young girl about Aang’s age appeared on the platform holding up the champion belt.

Zuko suddenly sat up straight as he looked down at the girl.

Katara looked to Aang.

“She's not really blind, is she? It’s just part of her character, right?”

Aang shook her head.

“No, I think she is.”

“I think she’s going down!”

Sokka continued to cheer on The Boulder along with the crowd.

The Boulder frowned as he looked at his next opponent.

“The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl.”

The Blind Bandit smiled.

“Sounds to me like you’re scared, Boulder.”

“The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings, and is ready to bury you in a rock-alanche.”

“Whenever you’re ready, The Pebble.”

She then burst into laughter and Zuko gasped.

“That’s her.”

Aang looked over at him.

“Who?”

“The girl I saw in the swamp. That’s her.”

He pointed to The Blind Bandit.

“Are you sure.”

“Yes, she’s dressed differently but that laugh couldn’t be anyone else’s.”

Aang turned back to the match now with a new interest.

-

The Boulder charged at the Blind Bandit who stood perfectly still until just as he was about to set his foot down, she shifted stances and the floor beneath him moved. The Boulder let out a high-pitched scream as he was forced into a split and was then jettisoned from the platform by three pillars of rock to his back.

The crowd was silent as they processed what had just happened.

“You’re winner and still champion, The Blind Bandit.”

The audience burst into roaring cheers as Sokka looked absolutely heartbroken.

“How did she do that?”

Aang smiled.

“She waited and listened.”

She looked at Zuko who nodded as he continued to stare at the young girl in the arena.

-

Xin Fu then jumped back down onto the platform and held up a large sack that jingled with coins.

“To make things a little more interesting, I’m offering this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat The Blind Bandit.”

The stadium was silent.

“What? No one dares to face her?”

“I will.”

Everyone turned to see Aang walking up onto the platform.

Katara and Zuko looked to see that yes somehow Aang had managed to slip out from between them and make her way to the arena unseen.

“Go Aang! Avenge The Boulder! Ow!”

Sokka rubbed the back of his head where Katara slapped him.

The Blind Bandit scoffed.

“Do people really want to watch two little girls fight?”

Aang held up her hands.

“I don’t really want a fight you. I want to talk to you.”

The Blind Bandit didn’t seem willing to talk as she send a pillar of rock towards Aang. This didn’t deter Aang as she just jumped and floated across the platform. As soon as she landed the blind bandit turned directly towards her.

“Someone’s a little light on their feet. What’s your fighting name, The Fancy Dancer?”

Aang gave a shrug before being flung back into the air by a jet of stone. She quickly caught herself and floated around to stand back behind The Blind Bandit again.

“Please wait.”

“There you are.”

A giant boulder was sent in Aang’s direction and on instinct she jumped up and sent a gust of air back to send the boulder away. This had the unintended consequence of also blowing The Blind Bandit backwards and flinging her off the platform.

For a moment everyone was stunned. Then suddenly the crowd erupted into cheers. Aang however was not interested in the audience and quickly ran after the other girl.

“Please listen! My friend needs an earth bending teacher and we think it’s supposed to be you.”

The Blind Bandit didn’t stop.

“Whoever you are, just leave me alone.”

Aang continue to run after her but was stopped when a wall of stone cut off the exit.

Sullenely she returned to the platform as Katara Sokka and Zuko came down to greet her, Sokka a happily taking the belt and bag of coins from Xin Fu.

They then exited the arena and met back up with Iroh. He told them what happened as he led them back to town.

-

The next morning Sokka paraded around with the champion belt, commenting on how it matched his new bag. Aang on the other hand looked put out. Katara noticed and placed an arm around her shoulders.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I keep trying to help Zuko find an earth bending teacher but I always just end up messing it up. Maybe you should go looking for The Blind Bandit without me.”

“Aang no, you’ve been a ton of help. If it wasn’t for you, we would’ve never thought of going to the Earth Rumble in the first place.”

A small smile played on Aangs lips.

“You mean that?”

“Of course I do. Now come on let’s go find Zuko an earth bending teacher.”

-

Their search started them back at Master Yu’s earth bending academy, deciding that was the best place to find a young earth bender.

Unfortunately, all they found were the two boys that had laughed at Aang yesterday.

“Oh great, you again.”

Katara took it a threatening step forward and the boys flinched backwards.

They then looked to Aang and their attitudes changed.

“Wait you’re the kid who beat The Blind Bandit.”

“We need to talk to her. Do you know where she lives?”

“The Blind Bandit is a mystery. She shows up to fight and then disappears.”

Katara narrowed her eyes at them.

“We swear it’s true. No one knows where she goes or who she really is.”

“Well someone has to know something about her.”

Aang’s face lit up.

“Wait we do. Zuko said in the vision she was wearing a long, fancy dress. Right Zuko?”

Zuko nodded.

“She also had a pet flying boar.”

The two boys looked at each other.

“Well a flying bore is the symbol of the Bei Fong family, they’re the richest people in town.”

The other boy rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, but they don’t have a daughter.”

“It’s still the best lead we have. Let’s go check it out.”

-

Back in the mouth of the cave that lead to the Earth Rumble arena The Boulder was talking to Xin Fu.

“I’m telling you, The Boulder was standing right there. I saw the kid strike, but there was no earth bending. Nothing made contact. The Blind Bandit just fell out of the ring. She must of took a dive and split the money with the kid.”

Xin Fu slammed a fist against the wall causing it to shake with the power of his bending.

“Nobody cheats Xin Fu.”

-

Outside the Bei Fong estate the kids made their way over to the wall to climb over it. Sokka looked at the wall and frowned.

“Is this really the best idea?”

Aang looked guilty.

“We don’t really have any better ideas. It’s not like we can just go up to the front door and ask ‘Hey do you happen to have a blind daughter who’s incredible at earth bending that you’ve been keeping secret for years?’”

“Point.”

Aang and Zuko used air bending to get to the top of the wall then pulled Katara and Sokka up. They then all jumped down and made their way to the garden. However, as soon as they stepped foot onto the grass, they were all sent flying. Aang and Katara landed in some bushes while Sokka and Zuko were not so lucky and landed on the hard ground.

Aang was the first to recover and was about to get up when she found herself face to face with the girl they’d been looking for. Long fancy dress and all.

“What are you doing here Twinkle Toes?”

Aang blinked.

“How’d you know it was me?”

“You’re really going to answer to Twinkle Toes?”

They ignored Sokka.

“How did you find me?”

“Well a crazy king told us to find an earth bender that listens to the earth and then Zuko had a vision in a magic swamp…”

The disbelief was clear on the girl’s face, so Katara quickly stepped in.

“What Aang is trying to say is we’re trying to find an earth bending teacher for the Avatar and you’re an incredible bender. If Zuko doesn’t learn earth bending soon the entire world will be in danger.”

“Not my problem. Now get out of here, or I’ll call the guards.”

Zuko opened his mouth as if to make an angry retort but Sokka placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. He then turned to the girl.

“Look we all have to do our part to win this war, and yours is to teach Zuko earth bending.”

For a moment, the girl was silent as if she was thinking before she quickly turned and started shouting for the guards.

Everyone quickly ran to hide as armed men ran into the garden.

“Toph what happened.”

Toph’s entire demeanor changed from the abrasive and rude girl they’d met to one who was small and timid.

“I thought I heard someone. I got scared.”

One of the guards put a protective hand on her and started to guide her back to the mansion.

“You know your father doesn’t want you wandering the grounds without supervision, Toph.”

As they left Aang peaked out from behind the wall and watched them go with a pained look. She turned around ready to leave when she noticed movement farther down the wall. She looked to see what it was and gasped upon seeing a pair of men sneaking over the wall.

“Guys look.”

She pointed to the two men who were pulling out what were obviously stolen guard uniforms and putting them on. The other three looked to where she was pointing from their positions already on the other side of the wall and narrowed their eyes.

“Well that’s certainly suspicious.”

They all quickly ran over to see what was going on.

“Excuse me, I don’t work here but I’m pretty sure this isn’t the guard’s changing room.”

The two men looked up from what they were doing and startled at seeing Aang. One then pulled out a knife as the other bent a large chunk of stone out of the wall.

“I’m also pretty sure guards aren’t supposed to cause property damage either. Whoa!”

She ducked just in time to avoid getting hit with the chunk of wall and the others quickly jumped in to help her.

Katara shot a jet of water at the bender stopping him from sending more of the wall at Aang while Sokka stunned the one with the knife with his boomerang long enough for Zuko to get back onto the wall and disarm him. Aang then pushed both men off the wall and into the garden with a blast of air.

The commotion alerted a pair of real guards and they came rushing in just as the two men landed in a heap in front of them. They then looked up at Aang and Zuko on the wall and Aang smiled back at them.

“Hi, we saw these guys were trying to sneak in over the wall, so we stopped them.”

Later they returned to the inn they’d been staying at with a formal invite to dinner with the Bei Fongs and story to tell Iroh.

-

The atmosphere around the dinner table was awkward. For a while everything was silent aside from Sokka’s enthusiastic eating.

Toph’s father then turned to Aang.

“It’s been quite a long time since anyone has seen an air bender. I don’t mean to be offensive, but many believed them to be extinct.”

“Well actually I’m the only air bender left, everyone else in the refuge is a nonbender.”

“Refuge?”

“Oh um… the place where the descendants of the people who escaped the attack live.”

“I see then what brings you to our town?”

Aang glanced to Zuko then quickly looked away. Zuko made no sign he’d seen and continued looking like he wanted to be anywhere else than that table.

“Well when I got my bending, I felt like I couldn’t just sit idly by while the war was going on. I might have been safe but other people weren’t. It wouldn’t be right for me to do nothing while people were suffering.”

“That is very noble of you. It is important to remember to do what we can in times like this.”

“Thank you.”

Aang’s face fell.

“Unfortunately, the monks didn’t think so. When I got my bending, they were even more insistent that I stay in the refuge. They said it was too dangerous for me to leave and as the last air bender it was my duty to stay safe until the war was over and I could bring the air benders back.”

She made a face as if she’d eaten something sour.

“So, what did you do?”

Everyone looked up to see that it had been Toph who’d spoken. She was facing Aang, despite not being able to see her, and a genuine look of curiosity on her face.

“Oh, I left anyway. Even if the monks saw me as something that needed protecting it didn’t matter. I knew I could do more and that I couldn’t just do nothing and wait for the war to end. I wasn’t going to let them treat me like a prisoner just because they were scared I’d get hurt, so I left.”

Toph’s face was unreadable, although, she did appear to be thinking about something.

The dinner continued from there and the conversation moved to lighter topics. That was until someone brought up Toph’s bending.

“If she’s been training under such an esteemed master, she must be a great earth bender.”

Aang nodded in agreement with Katara.

“Yeah probably good enough to tea… ow.”

She was cut off by a jut of rock hitting her in the leg and she shot a look at Toph that she only later remembered she couldn’t see. Yet somehow, she still seemed to know to give her an overly innocent smile.

“Oh no, Toph is still learning the basics, and sadly because of her blindness I don’t think she will ever become a true master.”

The shock was clear on everyone’s faces, Sokka had even stopped eating completely in exchange for staring. Thankfully Iroh had some tact and placed his chopsticks down to draw the attention away from the kids.

“I don’t know about that. I’ve seen remarkable feats of bending from all different people in my years. Sometimes it just takes finding a different way to do things.”

Toph’s dad took a breath while keeping his polite smile.

“We are making every accommodation for her, but our first priority is her safety.”

Iroh nodded his own smile far more relaxed. He then turned his attention to Toph.

“How are you enjoying the lessons?”

Toph stiffened as if she hadn’t expected to be addressed directly, but quickly recomposed herself.

“I am grateful to be given the opportunities that I have. Master Yu is a very respected teacher.”

Aang gave a snort that she quickly had to hide with a sneeze as Toph made another move to stab her with rocks again. Of course, she seemed to forget that sneezing and air bending didn’t mix very well, and food was sent flying across the table into everyone’s faces.

“Uh sorry.”

Toph’s mom gently wipes some splattered soup off her face.

“Well, shall we move to the living room for dessert, then?”

-

After everyone was shown to the guest room. It had a large window that looked over the garden that was currently being taken up by Appa wanting to be closer to Aang.

Aang happily ran over to pet and snuggle the bison until Toph came into the room. Aang gave a yelp at seeing her, fearing she would retaliate for what happened at dinner.

“Relax.”

Toph leaned against the door frame.

“Look I’m sorry about dinner. Let’s call a truce, ok?”

-

Toph led Aang out into the garden.

“You weren’t lying when you talked about running away.”

It was a statement but Aang still answered.

“No, I wasn’t.”

“You make it sound easy.”

“It wasn’t. I still sometimes wonder if I did the right thing.”

“Then why don’t you go back?”

Aang smiled.

“My friends. Every time I see Zuko learn a new move, watch Sokka make a plan, every time I hear Katara laugh, and drink tea with Iroh, I remember why I left. I never would have had those experiences in the refuge. Never made any kind of difference.”

“It sounds nice.”

Toph jumped onto the railing of a bridge as they crossed, not even hesitating as she stepped from foot to foot on the narrow strip of stone.

“I may have been born blind, but I’ve never had a problem seeing.”

She leapt off the bridge and planted her feet on the grass ahead of them.

“I see with earth bending. It’s kind of like seeing with my feet. I feel the vibrations of the earth and I can ‘see’ where everything is. You, that tree, even those ants.”

Aang looked around before finally spotting the small ant hill, impossible to spot if she hadn’t been told it was there.

“That’s amazing.”

Toph smiled.

“I know.”

Her smile fell.

“But my parents don’t understand. They’ve always treated me like I was helpless.”

“Is that why you became The Blind Bandit?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why stay here where you’re not happy?”

“They’re my parents. I didn’t think I had any place to go.”

She turned to face Aang.

“That is until I met you.”

“What?”

“I’ve decided to go with you.”

Aang’s face lit up.

“So, you’ll teach Zuko earth bending?”

“Yeah, I’ll teach him, but he better learn to talk more. The only reason I even know about him is that I sensed another person with you guys and that you’ve mentioned him a lot.”

Aang laughed.

“Don’t worry he can be very loud when he wants to be.”

Toph smiled then quickly stiffened.

“We’re being ambushed!”

She grabbed Aang’s hand and the two girls started running back to the mansion. They were then cut off by one of the Rumble Fighters busting out of the ground. They turned to run in the other direction only for metal cages to fall over top of them.

Xin Fu then stepped up to them and smiled.

“I think you kids owe me some money.”

-

Zuko shot up in bed.

“Something’s wrong!”

Sokka, Katara and Iroh shot awake at the shout and turned towards him, but Zuko was already jumping out the window and running into the garden.

He got to where the Rumble fighters had ambushed Aang and Toph just as they were dragging the cages over the wall.

“Let them go!”

Some of the fighters turned towards him ready to engage but Xin Fu shook his head.

“We got what we came for. Leave him.”

The fighters nodded and finished throwing the cages onto a cart and running off with them.

Zuko let out an angry yell as he jumped up the wall, but by the time he’d made it they were gone.

He jumped back down just as the others plus the Bei Fongs came running out. He then noticed something in the grass and picked it up.

It was a ransom note.

He handed it over to Toph’s dad who read it aloud.

“If you want your daughter returned safely, you will bring 500 gold pieces to the arena. Signed Xin Fu and The Boulder.”

Toph’s mom put her face in her hands.

“Poor Toph, she must be so scared.”

-

Toph gripped the bars of her cage that was hanging from the arena’s ceiling next to Aang’s and hoisted herself up to be seen through the small window.

“You think you’re so tough! Why don’t you come up here so I can smack that grin off your face?”

Xin Fu glared up at Toph.

“I’m not smiling.”

“Toph!”

Xin Fu and The Boulder turned to see Sokka, Katara, Toph’s Dad, and Master Yu standing on the other side of the platform, Sokka holding up the bag of gold coins.

“Here’s your money. Now let them go.”

The bag was tossed over and Xin Fu looked through it. He nodded and made a signal to someone up in the rafters. The cage holding Toph lowered and she was let out. She ran over to them and her father hugged her tightly.

Sokka and Katara weren’t satisfied though and narrowed their eyes at the two kidnappers.

“What about Aang?”

Xin Fu and The Boulder smiled.

“We have a different offer for her. You see most people may not know the identity of the Avatar but I’m sure the Fire Nation will pay quite a lot for someone who does.”

He held up a poster titled The Avatar’s Known Allies with a picture of all their faces.

“That is unless you have something or someone more valuable.”

There was then a loud clang from the rafters and Sokka smiled.

“Actually, we do.”

Aang’s cage then lowered and opened, dropping her on the ground. Another clang sounded and they all looked to see Zuko in his mask sliding down the chains that had held the cages.

Xin Fu, however, didn’t look upset instead he smiled and made another signal. All the other Rumble fighters then jumped from where they’d been hiding in the stands onto the center platform. They all surrounded Zuko cutting him off from the rest of the group and overwhelming him. Aang, Katara, and Sokka tried to help but there were just too many to get past.

Master Yu and Toph’s dad quickly grabbed Toph and pulled her to the exit.

“Toph please. There’s too many of them we need your help!”

Toph’s dad turned to them furious.

“My daughter is blind. She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. She cannot help you.”

Toph pulled her hand out of his.

“Yes, I can.”

She turned and ran back to the fight.

Zuko had managed to hold his own for that time but it was clear that he was getting tired from fending off eight elite fighting earth benders at once. He wasn’t going to be able to last much longer on his own.

Just as a chunk of rock was hurled towards his blind spot a wall of stone separated him from the fighters. They all turned to see Toph holding up a fist, Aang, Katara, and Sokka next to her.

“Leave him alone! I beat you all before, and I’ll do it again.”

“The Boulder takes issue with that comment.”

The fighters turned to charge at them, but Toph held up a hand to stop the others from engaging.

“They’re mine.”

She locked her stance and raised her hands before stomping down with all her force and decimating the floor beneath the fighters. She then sent a wave of earth launching them back and sending a giant cloud of dust into the air. With no hesitation she walked into the cloud unhindered the way the fighters were without their sight.

Zuko came out from behind the rock wall ready to keep fighting but Sokka just held up his hand and motioned to just watch.

For a second nothing happened then out of no where fighters started flying out of the dust cloud and crashed into the pit below in groaning heaps. Toph then stepped out of the cloud, not a scratch on her, and quickly bends it away to reveal the only one left standing is Xin Fu. The man cracked his neck and took a stance while Toph just spits to the side without a care. They circled each other until Xin Fu made the first move by sending a full bombardment of giant rocks at Toph.

Toph didn’t even flinch and simply brought up a shield of rock to protect her. Once the attacks stopped, she flicked her wrist, sending the rock shield rocketing towards him.

Xin Fu was only just able to dodge and walling in the air struck the ground with his hand to toss a chunk of rock flying towards her now exposed head.

Seconds before it hit, Toph stepped aside letting the projectile fly past her harmlessly. Then quick as lightning she turned back around and sent a wave of rock back at Xin Fu, knocking him clear across the pit and into the stands where her father and Master Yu were watching.

Everyone stared in aw with many jaws dropped. Master Yu turned to Toph’s dad, eyes wide with amazement.

“Your daughter is amazing. She’s the greatest earth bender I’ve ever seen.”

-

With everyone safe and the Rumble fighters arrested they all returned to the Bei Fong estate where Iroh was consoling Toph’s mom with a cup of tea.

Upon seeing Toph she quickly ran over to hug her.

“Oh, thank the spirits you’re safe.”

Toph pulled out of her mother’s grip and faced both her parents.

“We need to talk.”

They nodded and everyone went into the living room to hear what Toph had to say.

After an explanation of what happened for Toph’s mom and Iroh Toph stood in the center of the room with her parents in front of her and the Avatar team behind her.

“I know it’s probably hard for you to see me this way, but the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn’t me. I love fighting. I love being an earth bender. And I’m really, really good at it. I know I’ve kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me, but I’m twelve years old and I’ve never had a real friend.”

Katara and Sokka glanced at each other while Zuko seemed lost in his own head. Neither of these reactions escaped Aang or Iroh’s notice but they kept quiet.

“So now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn’t change the way you feel about me.”

Toph’s father folded his hands.

“Of course it doesn’t change the way we feel about you, Toph. It’s made me realize some things.”

“It has?”

Toph’s voice was hopeful and Iroh’s eyes snapped to Toph’s dad with anticipation, a hand on Zuko’s shoulder who was clenching his fists so tight they were white.

“Yes, I’ve let you have far too much freedom. From now on you’ll be cared for and guarded twenty four hours a day.”

“But Dad…”

Iroh’s eyes narrowed and his hand tightened as Zuko stiffened at Toph trying to argue.

Toph’s mom then stepped in.

“We are doing this for your own good, Toph.”

Aang and Katara both looked ready to jump to Toph’s defense but Iroh gave them a look and they begrudgingly settled.

Toph’s dad then turned to a servant.

“Please escort our guests out. They are no longer welcome here.”

The servant nodded and the group stood to follow the servant out. Aang then glanced back to Toph as they walked out.

“I’m so sorry, Toph.”

Toph just hung her head.

-

The group landed Appa in a forest just outside the estate. It was far too late for them to go much farther than that, but it also felt wrong to just leave all together.

Zuko had gone to meditate on Iroh’s request while Sokka absent mindedly polished the champion belt. Aang looked back at the mansion and Katara placed an arm around her shoulders.

“I really messed up this time. If I’d just kept my mouth shut during dinner Toph wouldn’t have wanted to talk and we wouldn’t have been in the garden. Then we wouldn’t have gotten captured and Toph wouldn’t have had to reveal her bending and…”

Katara pulled Aang into a hug.

“Aang stop. It’s not your fault that Toph’s parents refuse to see who she really is.”

“But I should have known better. I went through the same thing. I was too busy trying to get her to join us that I didn’t realize and now she’s in the exact situation I ran away from.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Twinkle Toes.”

Aang broke from the hug and turned around with wide eyes.

“Toph! What are you doing here?”

“I reminded my dad about your story and he changed his mind. He said I was free to travel the world.”

Zuko gave a look of disbelief but Iroh placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head to stop him from calling out her bluff.

Sokka also seemed skeptical but smiled anyway.

“Well, we’d better get out of here before he changes his mind again.”

“Good idea.”

They all headed over to Appa.

“It’s great to have you Toph. You’re going to be a great teacher for Zuko.”

“I know. Hey, before you get on your big hairy thing, I want to show you something.”

“His name’s Appa, and sure what did you want aaaahh!”

A jut of stone shot up from underneath her, flinging her into a tree.

“There, now we’re even.”

Toph then held her hand up to Sokka.

“I’ll take the belt back.”

Sokka pouted but did take the belt off and tossed it over the side of Appa’s saddle. Which then proceeded to clock Toph on the head.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

Toph stood back up rubbing her head and turned towards Zuko.

“So, you’re the Avatar huh?”

“Uh yeah.”

Toph threw up her fists.

“He does speak! Good because this wasn’t going to work if you were going to be mute the whole time.”

Aang then disentangled herself from the tree and they all got onto Appa.

-

Back at the Bei Fong mansion Toph’s dad sat in front of Master Yu and Xin Fu.

“I know you two are very different, but I believe you have a common interest.”

A servant walked in with a small chest. He set it down on the table in front of them and opened it to reveal it being full of gold ingots.

The two men’s eyes widened and then looked to each other in silent agreement.

“The Avatar has kidnapped my daughter. I want you to do whatever it takes to bring her home.”


	9. Chase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok we’re back to having episodes out of order so they make more sense in this AU. Don’t worry I have plans for Zuko Alone.
> 
> Also for anyone who was confused about Aang’s vision in the swamp I alluded to that in this chapter.

They flew most of the night to try and get as far away from Toph’s old home as possible. After several hours a flying they landed in a small clearing deep into the forest, and as they did so a large cloud of fur fell from Appa’s coat.

Toph of course, didn’t see that, so when she dismounted and felt the soft layer beneath her feet she understandably mistook it for grass.

“That’s not grass.”

Sokka brushed some of the fur off his sleeping bag.

“Appa’s shedding.”

Katara made a note of disgust at that, but is quickly turned around when Sokka, Aang, and Toph start playing with the shed fur. She then burst into laughter when Aang accidentally blew a bunch onto Zuko making him splutter and flail to get it off.

“Aang!”

“Sorry.”

-

They got started on unpacking when Katara noticed that Toph wasn’t doing anything. She went over and attempted to explain to Toph that everyone was supposed to chip in, but only ended with Toph bending two slabs of rock up to make a tent to hide in and Katara giving up on her argument.

Her second attempt to talk didn’t go to well either and once again ended with Toph ignoring her and Katara walking off in a huff.

-

Later Toph woke with a gasp. She felt the ground beneath her with a confused and worried expression on her face before running out into the camp.

“There’s something coming towards us.”

Aang was the first to wake.

“What is it?”

Toph frowned and placed her hand bat to the ground as the rest of the group got up.

“It feels kind of like a rockslide, but also not a rockslide.”

Sokka rubbed the sleep out of his eye.

“You’re powers of perception are frightening.”

Katara looked worried.

“Should we leave?”

“It is better to face the known unrested than the unknown unprepared.”

Aang seemed to get what Iroh was saying and nodded.

“Right, better safe than sorry. Let’s go.”

They quickly packed up camp and ran to Appa.

As they took off, they noticed something kicking up a lot of dust in the distance as it rapidly headed towards their old campsite.

“What is that thing?”

“I don’t know but I’m glad we’re getting away from it.”

-

Some time later Aang let out a large yawn and started swaying in her seat. She looked behind her to see the others looked just as tired as her. Whatever had been chasing them seemed to be gone so she made the decision to land.

Toph was the first to get off, praising the dirt beneath her.

“See you guys in the morning.”

Katara got off after her and frowned.

“Actually, can you help us unload?”

Toph turned to her with an incredulous look on her face.

“Really, you need my help to unload Sokka’s funky smelling sleeping bag?”

“Hey, it’s not that bad.”

“Yes, it is.”

Zuko shoved Sokka’s sleeping bag at him.

Katara ignored the two boys behind her and instead remained mad at Toph.

“Yes, and everything else. You’re a part of this team now and…”

“Look I didn’t ask you to unload my stuff. I’m carrying my own weight.”

“That’s not the point.”

Toph didn’t listen and just bent another earth tent for herself and when that didn’t deter Katara like last time she bend a door to seal her off.

Katara looked to Iroh for help but he just looked tired, and she dropped it. She stormed back over to the camp, obviously still upset.

Aang attempted to approach her, which appeared to be the wrong course of action as it just set Katara off again, so she retreated.

-

They all settled down to sleep but apparently Katara wasn’t done being mad at Toph and sent a petty jab about not being able to see the stars her way. This did not go over well as Toph just launched the earth under Katara’s sleeping bag up and dumping her onto Sokka. This of course set Sokka’ off but his angry rant was cut off by Toph warning them the thing chasing them was back.

Groaning everyone got up and back onto Appa. Once in the air they saw the dust cloud again only this time much close. Now they could tell it was some kind of machine, but that was really all they could see.

“Seriously what is that thing?”

“And how does it keep finding us?”

Aang narrowed her eyes.

“I’m not sure, but this time I’m going to make sure we lose them.”

She flew Appa over the forest, across a lake and into some rocky cliffs, finally landing them on a tall plateau.

Appa collapsed more than landed and everyone tumbled off.

“Ok forget about setting up camp. I’m just going to find the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep.”

“That’s find because Toph wasn’t going to help anyway.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize the baby still needed someone to tuck her into bed.”

That seemed to be the last straw for Zuko.

“Will you two stop it?! The more you fight the less time we have to sleep.”

“Zuko is right, grievances are best left for lighter hours and clearer heads.”

With that Iroh conked out against Appa’s side.

Unfortunately, the small bit of peace they had didn’t last as Momo started scurrying around, large ears twitching in fright.

Sokka let out a loud groan.

“Oh no, don’t tell me.”

Aang stood up.

“That’s impossible, there’s no way they could have tracked us.”

“I can feel it with my own two feet!”

Sure enough, as they looked over the side of the plateau the cloud of dust could be seen gaining on them.

Katara frowned.

“We should leave.”

Aang shook her head.

“Maybe we should face them. Who knows maybe they’re friendly?”

Sokka rolled his eyes.

“Always the optimist, aren’t you?”

The machine stopped as it reached the wall of the first cliff and a door on one of its sides opened to reveal three familiar teenage girls riding on the backs of mongoose lizards. Everyone, aside from Toph, gasped as Azula looked up at them and smiled.

“We got to go.”

Toph scoffed.

“What? We can take them. It’s five against three.”

“Uh Toph I think your math’s off, there’s six of us?”

Toph smiled.

“Oh sorry. I didn’t count you. You know, no bending and all.”

“I can still fight!”

“Ok three on five, plus Sokka.”

“We are not fighting them!”

Everyone turned to Zuko as Iroh nodded in agreement.

“We are in no condition to fight while our opponents are. It is best we retreat while we still can.”

“Fine.”

However, before she followed the others to Appa, she created a wall between men and their pursuers.

Azula didn’t break stride and shot a bolt of lightning at the wall, shattering a large hole through it.

Toph was so shocked by what just happened that she almost didn’t move time to block the next attack thrown at her. She quickly jumped onto Appa and they flew off.

-

“So, any one gonna tell me who those girls were?”

“Zuko’s crazy sister, Azula, and her scary friends, Mai and Ty-Lee.”

“Ok that doesn’t explain why there chasing us.”

“Azula’s after me in Uncle for betraying the Fire Nation. Getting the Avatar and his friends is just a nice bonus for her.”

“Wait she doesn’t know you’re the Avatar.”

“Uncle is the only member of my family that knows. The rest just think I’m helping him.”

“And we’d like to keep it that way.”

Toph huffed.

“I still think we could’ve taken them.”

Katara’s eyes went wide.

“Are you kidding me? The crazy blue fire bending, and flying daggers are bad enough, but the last time we faced them, Ty-Lee did something to me that took away my bending. That’s scary.”

The sky then starred lighten and Sokka groaned.

“Oh no, the sun is rising. We’ve been up all night with no sleep.”

Aang turned to reassure him.

“We’ll be ok.”

“Are you sure? I’ve never not slept before. What if I fall asleep right now and something happens? And something always happens!”

Zuko pulled Sokka back into the saddle before he fell out due to freaking out.

“Calm down, one night of no sleep isn’t going to kill us.”

“But what a supposed to do? Every time we land Azula finds us.”

Appa let out a tired groan.

“We can’t keep flying forever.”

“No, but right now it is our best option. In the meantime, we can sleep in the saddle.”

Everyone agreed with Iroh’s idea and basically fell over where they sat. Unfortunately, as soon as they close their eyes they suddenly felt themselves falling. They all snapped themselves awake and quickly grabbed the saddle to stop themselves from flying out.

“What’s going on?”

“Appa fell asleep!”

They all screamed as Aang climbed over to Appa’s head and tried to wake him up. She managed to do so just as they were about to hit the ground. Unfortunately, Appa was still too tired to fly and they ended up crashing at the bank of a river.

“We can’t fly anymore Appa’s exhausted.”

“That’s okay you put a lot of distance between us and them. Right now the plan is to follow Appa’s lead and get some sleep.”

“Of course, we could’ve gotten sleep earlier if Toph didn’t have such issues.”

Zuko buried his face in his hands.

“No, we’re not doing this again! Just be quiet.”

“No if Sugar Queen has something to say to me, I want to hear it.”

“Sugar Queen!”

Aang held up her hands.

“Alright, alright! Everyone’s exhausted. Let’s just get some rest.”

“I’m just saying that if Toph had helped out earlier, we could’ve set up camp faster and maybe gotten some sleep. And then maybe we wouldn’t be in the situation.”

“You’re blaming me for this!”

Aang tried to hold Toph back but she was too riled up at this point.

“I never ask you for diddly doda. I carry my own weight! Besides if anyone’s to blame it sheddy over here.”

That got Aang mad.

“You’re blaming Appa?”

“Yeah, you wanna know how they keep finding us?”

She pulled a handful of shedding fur out of Appa’s coat.

“He’s leaving a trail everywhere we go.”

Aang, however, didn’t want to listen.

“How dare you blame this on Appa. He saved your life three times today. If anyone’s to blame, it’s you. You’re always talking about how your caring your own weight but you’re not, Appa is.”

Zuko scowled.

“Not you too. None of us are going to get any sleep with all three of you arguing now.”

Sokka just curled up in his sleeping bag trying to block the yelling from the other kids.

“Enough.”

Everyone went silent and turned to Iroh.

“Toph would you come with me and Zuko.”

Zuko looked to Iroh incredulously but Iroh just gave him a look and he relented.

Toph side but nodded and they both followed Iroh into the woods.

-

Aang slumped against Appa’s side

“That was so stupid. Why did I yell at her like that? Zuko was right it wasn’t helping anything.”

“We’re all just trying to get used to each other, and I was so mean to her.”

Sokka, having accepted that he wasn’t going to sleep, took a drink of water.

“Yeah you two were pretty much jerks.”

“Thanks, Sokka.”

“No problem.”

Katara rolled her eyes and turned back to Aang.

“We’ll apologize to Toph when she gets back with Iroh and Zuko.”

Sokka set his cup down.

“Good idea but what are we going to do about the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?”

Aang clenched her fist in Appa’s fur and felt a clump of it fall off in her hand. She watched as it blew away and the wind and smiled.

“I have a plan.”

-

Iroh started a small fire and put a pot on for tea. He then motioned for Zuko and Toph to sit next to him. Once the tea was done, he poured a cup for each of them.

Toph frowned.

“I can pour my own tea. Like I said I know how to pull my own weight.”

“I’m aware you do. I poured your tea because I wanted to, just as I poured Zuko’s tea.”

“I can still take care of myself.”

Iroh smiled and glanced to Zuko, who just looked down at his cup and sighed.

“That doesn’t mean you have to do everything on your own, you know.”

Toph tilted her head in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

Zuko shifted the cup in his hand.

“Just that you’re part of the group now.”

Iroh nodded sagely.

“Yes, being independent and self-reliant are admirable traits to have, but when taking too extreme they can lead to isolation. There is nothing wrong with letting those who love you help you. It is simply a way of showing that they care.”

“I still don’t see why Katara was on my case so much.”

“Because it goes both ways.”

Zuko paused when Toph just continue to look confused but Iroh smiled and motioned for him to continue.

“People helping you shows they care, so to show that you care you have to help them too.”

A look of realization crossed Toph’s features.

“So, when I refuse to help set up camp it made it sound like I didn’t care.”

She jumped to her feet.

“I need to talk to her.”

Just then Katara and Sokka appeared, panting heavily.

“They found us again!”

-

Between the frantic running and scrambling on to Appa the two siblings explained how they had washed the shedding fur off of Appa and how Aang used some of the fir to create a fake trail. They all got onto Appa and managed to get him into the air. He didn’t get very high, breaking the tips of some of the nearby trees off as he passed, but it was enough to keep them from being spotted by Azula and her friends.

“So, what’s the plan now?”

“We find a place to land and keep hidden until the girls are gone and then we return to the river to meet back with Aang.”

Slight problem with that plan.

Zuko pointed behind them. Both Mai and Ty-Lee were quickly approaching them on their mongoose lizards.

“Oh come on.”

“How did they find us?”

Katara flicked the rains but Appa was too tired to go any faster.

Sokka pointed ahead of them.

“We just need to make it across that river.”

Katara pulled on the rains but they were still losing altitude fast. Miraculously, they still made it across, Appa’s feet skimming the water and plowing into the far bank, but they made it. He then collapsed on the ground, completely spent.

Sokka was the first to recover and smiled at seeing they were on the other side of the river.

“We made it! We’re safe!”

He and Katara hug in relief but Zuko and Iroh looked towards the water apprehensively.

“Don’t celebrate too soon.”

The siblings turn and gasped at seeing the girls’ mongoose lizards get up on their hind legs and run across the water like it was solid ground.

Acting fast Katara jumped forward and sent a wave at them.

Mai dodged out of the way while Ty-Lee abandoned her mongoose lizard and jumped higher than one would think would be physically possible to land on a tree next to the bank.

Katara uncorked her waterskin but Ty-Lee had already leaped down, not even flinching at the full story drop. She then popped up in front of her so close all Katara could see was dark gray eyes before stumbling back.

Ty-Lee then tried to jab at her to chi block but Katara was ready and managed to dodge. This, unfortunately, left her unable to counterattack leaving the two girls at a stalemate until Toph stepped in to send Ty-Lee flying by flinging the earth underneath her away.

Meanwhile Mai made it to shore with her mongoose lizard and sent a stream of arrows at Sokka. He slashed them out of the air with his club and stood his ground. Mai charged at him only to be cut off by a jet of fire from Zuko.

Mai turned and the two locked eyes.

Mai’s eyes narrowed before she changed course and went after Katara and Toph while Ty-Lee recovered and leaped into the fight with Zuko and Sokka. She tumbled and jumped around Zuko’s fire as she lunged at Sokka. He tried to defend with his club and boomerang but his lack of sleep slowed his movements and Ty-Lee was easily able to get around him and jab his right arm limp. She also managed to get his other arm but was stopped when he moved, and she hit his head.

She made a pained noise and clutched her fist obviously not able to chi block on a large hard surface. She was forced away from Sokka by another blast from Zuko and she turned to face him.

Mai was also holding her own fairly well against Katara and Toph. She expertly avoided the two girls’ attacks while sending several arrows and knives flying at them.

“Toph, look out!”

Katara created an ice shield in front of Toph just as a sharp projectile was about to hit her.

“I can’t. All her weapons are wood and metal. I can’t sense where they’re coming from.”

“Ok just keep trying to hit her. I’ll block her knives and arrows.”

Katara ran to the river to get more water to bend but was stopped by a knife slicing into her arm wrap and pinning her hand to a tree. Her other hand soon followed making it impossible for her to bend.

Mai pulled out another knife but wasn’t able to throw it as she had to dodge a large rock from Toph. She then threw the knife at her.

Toph was only saved by Iroh pulling her out of the way.

“It’s no use. I can’t see that girl’s weapons and the other girl is barely on the ground more than Aang. I have no way to fight them.”

“Do not worry. We will make it out of this.”

Iroh took a stance ready to fight only for Appa to suddenly wake up and send the two girls flying into the river. For a moment Iroh just blinked before a wide grin spread over his face.

“See I told you.”

Iroh then went to free Katara while Toph and Zuko helped Sokka back on to Appa.

“Azula wasn’t with them.”

Sokka tried to find a position he was comfortable in with his arms limp.

“She probably followed Aang’s fake trail.”

“We need to make sure that Aang’s alright.”

Katara flicked the rains and steered Appa in the direction Aang had flown.

-

Back in the river Mai and Ty-Lee made it to the bank soaking wet and far from their mongoose lizards. However, Ty-Lee still had a large grin on her face.

“You know those water tribe kids were kinda cute.”

Mai just looked at her unamused.

-

The fur in Aang’s bag started run out just as she came across an abandoned village. She landed and dumped the rest of the fur out, having the trail end in the middle of the main street. She then opened her glider and turned to take off again only to see it Azula right behind her.

“The Avatar isn’t here, and neither are Iroh or Zuko. There’s nobody you want here.”

Azula smiled.

“Who said I didn’t want you? After all, all of them seem to care about you. Wonder what they’ll do to get you back?”

Aangs eyes widened. She quickly tried to take off only for Azula to send a stream of fire above her causing her to land.

“Aw poor little air bender. Nowhere to run this time.”

“Who’s running?”

Azula turned to see Zuko, Iroh, Katara, and Toph, behind her. Yet the sudden reveal of reinforcements did not seem to faze Azula in the slightest.

“Hello Zuzu, I was wondering when you’d get here.”

Toph snorted.

“Zuzu?”

Zuko ignored her.

“Leave Aang alone, Azula. She’s not the one you want.”

“And what are you going to do to stop me?”

Zuko shot a blast of fire at her which she easily blocked. The others then start throwing attacks at her, but none of them hit.

“Huh, I think me counting was off. Could’ve sworn I counted six of you last night.”

There was then the glint of metal above her and she ducked just in time to dodge Sokka’s boomerang as it came down from the roof of one of the nearby buildings. She also jumped back to avoid it as it changed directions and swung back at her, missing her nose by inches.

The fight continued with every element being thrown in every direction. Eventually, however, Azula was backed into a corner as she dodged a swing from Sokka as club. She looked around at her surrounding opponents and smiled.

“Well look at this, I’ve got the whole set right in front of me all working together.”

She raised her hands in surrender.

“I’m done. I know what I’m beaten. You got me. A princess and surrenders with honor.”

Then in a lightning fast move, she shot Iroh right in the chest causing him to fall. There was a sudden gasp from everyone before they unleashed everything they had onto her. The resulting explosion sent most of the buildings into ruins, but as the dust cleared it was quite evident that Azula had escaped.

Zuko then let out a heartbreaking noise as he kneeled over Iroh’s motionless form.

Katara quickly ran over to him uncorking her waterskin.

“It’s ok Zuko we can heal him. Just follow what I do.”

The water encircled both of their hands and began to glow as they placed them over the burn. Slowly the wound healed and Iroh opened his eyes.

A releaved smile crossed Zuko’s lips as tears welled up in his eyes.

“Uncle.”

Iroh placed a hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

“It’s alright Zuko. I’m fine now.”

“Azula, I thought she…”

The tears spill over Zuko’s cheeks.

Iroh pushed himself up into a sitting passion and pulled Zuko into a hug. Zuko just went limp as he tried to stop the tears.

“Come, we are safe now. Let us all get some sleep.”

Everyone nodded and headed over to Appa.

Toph then took a step next to Katara.

“Hey Katara, is there something I can do to help set up camp.”


	10. Zuko Unmasked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised this AU’s version of Zuko Alone. It’s not as angsty as the original episode but I guess that’s not really the point. Hope the title isn’t as stupid as it sounds in my head. I wanted to keep it similar to the original title while also being true to what happens in this chapter.
> 
> By the way do you guys think I should just skip Bitter Work and move onto The Library? Zuko’s not going to struggle with earth bending like Aang and I really can’t see him crying on top of a mountain shouting at the universe to strike him with lightning, but it does mean missing out on Sokka stuck in a hole and Foo Foo Cuddlypoops.

Katara let the glowing water drop as Iroh shifted.

“There really isn’t much else I can do anymore. You really just need to rest.”

Iroh smiled and nodded, accepting that Katara had done everything she could.

Aang turned in her seat on Appa’s head.

“I can see a village not far off. We can stop there and restock our supplies while Iroh rests.”

Everyone agreed and Aang set Appa down next to the small village.

The kids got off, letting Iroh rest as they shop and see if they could find a place to stay.

As they walked down the dusty street, they catch the eye of a group of men playing dice. They ignored them and head over to a stall.

While they were buying food Zuko noticed a pair of boys, who couldn’t be any older than eleven, hiding behind the stall. They saw Zuko looking at them and each put a finger to their lips. One had an egg in his hand, and he threw it at the men playing dice. It slammed into the nearest man’s head and splattered all over him and a couple of the others. The two boys darted off just as the men turned around and zeroed in on the group.

The men got up and made their way over to the stall.

“You throwing eggs at us, punks?”

The kids turned around when addressed. Aang and Katara seemed worried, while Zuko and Toph scowled at the men and Sokka just looked curious.

“We don’t have any eggs.”

The man in front crossed his arms, taking an aggressive stance.

“Then you see who did throw it?”

“Nope, maybe a bird flew by.”

One of the other men laughed but quickly stopped when the other men glared at him. The leader’s face soured and Zuko grabbed Sokka’s arm as a warning for him to stop.

That was when the stall owner came out with a basket of apples they’d bought, only for the men to push them away and grab it for themselves.

“Thanks for your contribution. The army appreciates your support.”

“Hey that was ours!”

One of the other men smirked.

“And what are you going to do about it.”

Toph stepped forward.

“You want to go?”

The men scoffed.

“We got better things to do then fight little girls.”

“Oh, I’ll show you a fight!”

Toph raised her foot ready to slam the soldiers into next week but stopped when Aang grabbed her hand.

“They’re not worth it, Toph.”

Toph put her foot down and huffed but seemed to agree it was a waist of energy. Instead she simply sent up a rock to trip them up, causing them to drop the apples and have to scramble to pick them up.

Katara looked ready to lecture but seemed to realize there really wasn’t anything worth lecturing her about.

The stall owner sighed as the soldiers walked away.

“They’re supposed to protect us from the Fire Nation, but they’re just a bunch of thugs.”

Toph turned to Aang.

“Still think it wasn’t worth it?”

Zuko stepped between them

“Next time, we still need to find a place to sleep so Uncle can recover in a real bed.”

Just then the boy who threw the egg came out from behind the stall and smiled up at Zuko.

“Thanks for not ratting me out.”

The others looked to Zuko for an explanation.

“I saw him throw the egg.”

Toph smiled then took a step closer to the boy.

“That was you? Nice.”

She then, playfully, punched him in the arm, knocking him back.

“Next time you should use a rock though.”

The boy rubbed his arm, stepping away from Toph warily.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He then looked back to Zuko and smiled.

“You said you need a place to stay right? My barn is really big and we have a spare room your Uncle can stay in since you said he was hurt.”

There really was no reason to say no and they followed the boy to a farm just outside the village, the calls of pig cows, pig chickens, and pig sheep coming from all sides.

The calls seemed to alert the people inside the house and a widely built man and stocky woman came out. The resemblance to the boy made it clear they were his parents.

The man looked over the group.

“You friends of Lee?”

The boy, Lee, nodded and smiled.

“Yeah they stood up to the soldiers. They would have done more but said they weren’t even worth fighting.”

The parents gave him the look parents got when they knew their kid was exaggerating but didn’t want to spoil their fun.

“Oh, they also said their Uncle is hurt and I offered for them to stay while he recovers.”

The parents looked at each other before nodding.

“We have the room, but I don’t think we can support you for more than a couple days.”

Katara smiled.

“That’s ok. We really just need some place more comfortable than a sleeping bag on the ground for the night. He should be fine after a good rest.”

“May we know who you are, then?”

The group hesitated. They’d never stayed anywhere that had required them to explain who they were that they hadn’t already been planning too. Sure, Lee’s family didn’t seem like they’d be a threat, but if those soldiers found out things would get messy really quickly.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to answer as Lee’s dad came to their rescue.

“Now they don’t have to tell us if they don’t want to. A person’s business is their own. Anyone who can hold their own against those bully soldiers is welcome here.”

The kids relaxed and Katara looked to Lee’s dad.

“Thank you, it’s appreciated.”

“Of course, it’s nice to know they can’t push everyone around. Those men should be ashamed to wear Earth Kingdom uniforms.”

“The real soldiers are off fighting in the war. Like Lee’s big brother, Sen Su.”

The group exchanged looks all saying different things.

Lee’s mom then stepped forward.

“Anyway, supper will be ready soon, you can set up in the barn while Gansu and Lee get the spare bedroom ready for your uncle.”

Everyone nodded and headed into the barn. Once out of sight of the family Aang flew off to get Iroh and Appa as the others settled down.

Getting Appa into the barn was a little harder especially when Lee came out and started asking the group questions. Thankfully, Iroh was able to get the boy’s attention by asking him to lead him to the spare room while Zuko helped him to the house. Lee was more than happy to do so, however, it still left Iroh and Zuko to take the majority of his questions. Iroh was happy to answer all the ones he was able to, but there were still a few that were a bit too prying.

“Where are you from?”

“That’s a bit hard to say. We’ve traveled a lot and picked up people along the way so you could say we’re from all over.”

“Oh.”

Lee looked disappointed with the answer. He then looked to Zuko, curiosity and interest sparking in his eyes.

“So, how’d you get that scar?”

Zuko nearly fell over his own feet at the question and he looked to Iroh to help him escape the situation.

Thankfully, Gansu seemed to have overheard and came out of the guest bedroom to scold his son.

“Lee, it’s not nice to bother people about things they might not want to talk about.”

Lee looked away sheepish but, unfortunately, his questions didn’t stop there.

“Do your friends know?”

“Lee!”

Lee quickly scampered off at his dad’s shout. Zuko watched with a detached and almost haunted look before turning away.

“I’m going to…”

Iroh nodded understandingly.

“Do what you need to. I can make it the rest of the way on my own.”

Zuko didn’t say anything, just nodded and ran out towards the farm. He didn’t stop until he reached a small pond in a grassy field and he collapsed, breathing heavily. He looked over the water and took a calming breath.

The pond was smaller and more over grown then the one in the palace gardens but it was enough to pull him back to the memories of feeding turtle ducks with his mom and he quickly latched onto them before any other unwanted memories could bubble up. Of course, these memories were not free of negative emotions as most of his childhood memories were, but they did easy his mind enough to get his breathing under control.

After making sure no one could see him he lit a small flame in his hand and meditated on the memories. The mother turtle duck attacking him after he threw a chunk of bread at one of the ducklings, accidentally pushing Mai into the fountain in an attempt to put out the apple on her head Azula had set on fire, the dagger Iroh had sent him back he’d still been a general.

He was then suddenly pulled back to reality when he heard footsteps approaching and he quickly smothered the flame. Thankfully, it turned out to be Toph and he relaxed.

“Food’s ready, quit sitting in the dirt and get some before Sokka eats it all.”

Zuko gave a small smile she couldn’t see and got to his feet.

“Don’t worry I’m coming.”

-

Later that night Zuko opened his eyes to see the barn door open and his scabbard missing. With a tired sigh he disentangled himself from the mass of limbs that had latched onto him during the night and crept out of the barn, not seeing a pair of blue eyes watching him.

Zuko found Lee in a field of sunflowers, wildly hacking, and slicing at the air with his swords. He sent a few flower heads flying as he turned to stab a tree but stopped when Zuko’s voice carried over to him.

“You’re holding them wrong.”

Lee whorled around so fast he fell backwards.

Zuko just looked down at him unimpressed as he slowly got back up and held the blades back to him.

For a moment Zuko didn’t do anything before he took a step closer and took ahold of Lee’s hands.

“Keep in mind, these are duel swords.”

He pressed the blades together, so they lined up against each other.

“Two halves of a single weapon. Don’t think of them as separate because they’re not. They’re just two different parts of the same whole.”

He adjusted Lee’s grip and then stepped back.

Lee looked down at the swords before smiling and swinging them around again, only this time more controlled and in sync with each other.

“Wow, first Aang, then Toph, now Lee. You like the kid whisperer or something?”

Zuko spun to see Sokka standing in the field a few feet behind him.

“Sokka! What are you doing here?”

“I came to see where our human shaped heater went.”

Sokka looked to Lee who was still happily trying out the swords.

“Didn’t think I’d find you being so cute.”

The right side of Zuko’s face went red, although it was hard to see it the dark.

“I’m not cute.”

“Whatever you say buddy. Anyway, we should probably get back to sleep. We’re shoving Toph at you in the morning to stop her from going after those soldiers before we have a plan, so you’re going to want to be well rested for that.”

Zuko made a face at that but relented and called Lee back to them.

-

They did not get the chance to shove Toph at Zuko in the morning because as soon as they had finished breakfast the sound of several ostrich horses running into the farm caught their attention. Everyone came out of the house to see the bully soldiers riding up to them.

“What do you think they want?”

Toph crossed her arms.

“It better be a rock to the face because that’s what they’re going to get.”

The soldiers stopped right outside the house and Gansu glared up at the leader.

“What do you want Gow?”

Gow smiled down at him with a smug smile, far too happy for the news he was about to relay.

“Just thought someone ought to tell you that your son’s battalion got captured.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in horror, but the soldiers just kept talking.

“You hear what the Fire Nation did to their last group of Earth Kingdom Prisoners?”

“Dressed them up in Fire Nation uniforms and put them on the front lines unarmed, way I heard it.”

The man speaking was cut off by a small rock hitting the side of his head.

Toph jammed her foot up to bring another rock up.

“You pansies better stop flapping your gums or the next one’s going to send you to the medic.”

Gow glared down at Toph as if that would intimidate her even if she could see it.

“You want to try that again little girl.”

Zuko stepped forward and locked eyes with Gow.

“Do you?”

Gow glared at Zuko but when he didn’t back down, he just scoffed and turned his ostrich horse around.

“Why bother rooting around in the mud with these pigs?”

The soldiers then rode off leaving them all with the news that Sen Su was probably never going to return home again.

Zuko locked eyes with Iroh both knowing what the other was thinking. Lu Ten’s death had been hard on both of them, they just hoped this family would have time to greave and not be hit with more strife and tragedy the way theirs was.

Zuko then looked to the others.

“We should get going.”

They all looked ready to argue for different reasons but Iroh nodded in agreement to quiet them.

“He’s right, we’ve riled those soldiers up enough and we do not need to draw any more attention to ourselves.”

Lee overheard them and quickly latched onto Zuko’s arm.

“No please you can’t go.”

Zuko looked down at Lee and sighed.

“We have to, but here, I want you to have this.”

He pulled out the knife Iroh had given him many years ago. Upon seeing it a soft smile crossed Iroh’s features as he watched the exchange.

Lee took the knife and then looked to Zuko.

“Read the inscription on the blade.”

Lee unsheathed the knife and squinted at the small text.

“Made in Earth Kingdom.”

“The other one.”

Lee flipped the blade over.

“Never give up without a fight.”

Lee smiled at him then took a step back to let them go.

Sokka walked up next to Zuko and gave him a smirk.

“Not cute huh?”

“Shut up.”

-

They got Appa out of the barn and into a large field no one would see him taking off from, and Zuko, Sokka, and Katara went back to make sure they didn’t leave anything. They were just about to head back when they heard the sound of footsteps running towards them.

“You have to help. Please I know you said you couldn’t get involved but I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

Everyone turned to see Lee’s mom panting heavily having run all the way from the house.

Katara was the first to speak.

“Sela? What is it? What happened.”

Sela looked back to them.

“It’s Lee. Gansu left to go to the front lines to find Sen Su and the thugs from the town came back. When they ordered us to give us food, Lee pulled a knife on them.”

Zuko winced.

“Then they took him away. They told me if he’s old enough to fight… he’s old enough to join the army.”

She buried her face in her hands and started to cry.

Katara quickly went over to comfort her, she then turned to Sokka and Zuko and they nodded.

Sokka stepped forward and looked in the direction Sela had pointed.

“Don’t worry we’ll get your son back. Katara, go get Aang and Toph we might need them.”

Katara nodded and ran off while Zuko and Sokka ran to save Lee.

-

Zuko and Sokka ran into the town to see Lee tide to the water tower with the soldiers standing around him, as if they’d been expecting opposition.

Upon seeing them Lee’s face lit up.

“Ha, I told you they’d come!”

Sokka and Zuko stopped in front of the men who made a barrier between them and Lee.

Zuko’s eyes narrowed as he took in the scene.

“Let the kid go.”

Gow burst into laughter.

“Who do you think you are? Telling us what to do.”

Sokka and Zuko exchanged looks.

“Who we are doesn’t matter because we know who you are. You’re not soldiers, you’re sick cowards messing with a family, who’s already lost one son to the war.”

“But if you need something to call us, it can be the guys about to kick your butts if you don’t let Lee go and apologize to his family right now.”

Gow glared at them before turning to the man to his left.

“Are you going to let them stand there and insult you like that?”

The man shook his head and clumsily pointed his sword at them

Sokka pulled out his club as Zuko unsheathed his swords. The man was on the ground before he could blink.

“Want to try that again?”

The man got to his feet and ran off down the street. The next guy charged at them but was taken out just as quickly with Zuko breaking his spear with a quick kick. He also ran off like the other, leaving just Gow and the last soldier alone against them.

By this time, a crowd had gathered, including Sela, and were watching the fight unfold.

Gow grabbed his war hammers and tossed one around in his hand with ease, while the other soldier took a much firmer stance than the last two. Zuko and Sokka took their stances and the men charged at them.

They managed to get in between Sokka and Zuko forcing them to fight one on one. This wouldn’t be a problem if Gow hadn’t turned out to be an earth bender and was able to keep Sokka away even when he managed to get around the other soldier.

Thankfully Zuko was able to defend himself with his swords even with chunks of rock flying around him. That was until Gow got one good hit in sending Zuko to the ground.

Sokka attempted to help him but Gow sent a jut of rock at him causing him to stumble and the other soldier to get him good in the thigh with his spear. He let out a pained cry and turned back to his opponent to avoid getting stabbed again.

Meanwhile, Gow continued to assault Zuko with rock, once again sending him to the ground.

“Give up boy and I won’t have to put you down again.”

Zuko looked to Sokka who was now having a harder time with the other soldier with an injured leg then to Lee still tied to the water tower. No, he wasn’t going to just give up. He wasn’t going to let another kid’s life be torn apart by a cruel man with too much power. Another mother was not going to have to beg and bargain for her son’s life. Another family would not be forgotten and push aside.

He got up and before he knew what was happening a jet of fire sprang from the blades of his swords sending Gow to the ground, to the frightened gasps and cries of the onlookers.

For a long moment everything was quiet as Zuko stared in horror at the flames roaring around him.

Things only got worse as that was when Katara arrived with Aang and Toph. Upon seeing/feeling the flames the three girls gasped. Then Aang spotted Gow getting back up and charging at Zuko and without thinking called out his name to warn him.

“Zuko!”

Gow was met with another jet shot of flame causing him to fly back into a wall and pass out. However, there were no cheers at the defeat of the man who’d been harassing the village and instead everyone just stared at Zuko in shock and horror.

Then people started talking. Whispers at first but they quickly grew louder.

“Zuko?”

“As in Prince Zuko?”

“Of the Fire Nation?”

“I heard of him! He’s an outcast. His own father burned and disowned him!”

Zuko flinched at the man’s harsh words. He looked to the others only to find horror register on their faces as the meaning of what the man said sunk in. He then looked away and went over to Gow, not caring about the flinch as he reached down to grab his dagger on the man’s belt.

He then made his way over to Lee, who was being untied by his mom, only to be stopped by Sela standing between them.

“Not a step closer.”

Zuko just held the dagger out to Lee.

“It’s yours, you should have it.”

Lee shook his head.

“No, I hate you!”

That seemed to snap the others out of it and Katara clenched her fists.

“Are you serious?”

Everyone turned to her.

“Zuko just saved you.”

She looked around at the villagers.

“He saved all of you and you’re going to reject him just because of who his parents are?”

Zuko turned around.

“Katara, it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. You’re a good person, they should see that.”

Her eyes landed on his scar and he looked away.

“Let’s just go.”

Katara watched him go over to Sokka and helpped him up. Aang then went over to her and took her hand to lead her back to the group.

-

Back on Aappa, after Katara healed Sokka’s leg as well as any other injuries the two boys received everything fell into an awkward silence. No one really wanted to bring up what they’d learned. Eventually Toph let out a large sigh and with a bit of help from the others plopped down next to Zuko and punched him in the arm.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“It’s how I show my affection.”

She then crossed her arms, while still grabbing a fist full of his shirt as a form of stability.

“Look, you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to. You obviously didn’t want us to know so we’re not going to pry, but…”

She bit her lip as if trying to think of what to say next. Comfort and reassurance were not her strong areas.

Thankfully, they were for Katara.

“But we’re your friends. If you need to talk about it we’ll listen.”

Aang smiled.

“Yeah it’s ok to ask for help. That’s why I’m here after all.”

“Or if you’d rather we just forget about it, we can do that too. No judgement.”

Sokka looked to Zuko with a smirk that bordered on caring and Zuko smiled back.

"Thank you."


	11. The Scar Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so after some debate I realized that Zuko’s feelings from last chapter needed to be addressed before we got into more plot so here’s this AU’s version of Bitter Work. Took me a while to think of what to title this chapter but in the end there really wasn’t much else I could call it.

“You will learn respect. And suffering will be your teacher.”

Zuko sat bolt upright gasping for breath. He looked around at the camp to see that he hadn’t woken anyone. They were all sleeping in their own sleeping bags huddled around him, undisturbed by Zuko’s sudden return to consciousness. 

His eyes landed on Aang and Toph who’d snuggled up to either side of him. Curled up and asleep as they were, it was very clear just how small and young they were. Could a few months really make that much of a difference?

“Zuko?”

Zuko looked up to meet eyes with Katara.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Katara shook her head.

“No, it’s fine, but you’re crying”

Zuko brought a hand to his cheek and sure enough it came away wet. He quickly turned away trying to hide it.

“Hey no, you don’t have to do that.”

Katara reached out and placed a hand on Zuko’s shoulder, careful not to disturb Aang sleeping between them and turned him to face her.

“It’s ok to cry, I just wanted to know if I could help.”

Zuko still tried to rub the tears away regardless.

“No, just a bad dream.”

He laid back down.

“Just go back to sleep.”

Katara frowned but only gave a sigh and went back to lay down in her own sleeping bag.

-

The next morning, as usual, Zuko was the first one up. However, what wasn’t usual was how exhausted he looked. He apparently hadn’t gotten much sleep if any after his talk with Katara and Katara definitely knew that considering the glances she kept sending his way. 

Toph didn’t seem to notice, either from her blindness or her general lack of caring and quickly pulled him off to start earth bending training.

The training did not go well. Or it went well enough until Zuko was told to do more than send rocks flying.

“Ok I need you to stand there and not move until the last possible moment. Got it?”

Zuko huffed, the training making his already bad mood worse, but he did what he was told and took his stance.

Toph stomped her foot down and several fist sized rocks came up around her.

“I’m going to leave enough room for you to dodge but you’re not going to be able to rely on sight alone. You’re going to need to use earth bending to sense when to move. Ready?”

Toph didn’t wait for an answer and sent the rocks flying.

Zuko was able to dodge the first few but one managed to clip him on the shoulder and threw him off enough to get hit by the next one. When the third one skimmed his scarred cheek, he lost it and soon all the rocks were reduced to little more than pebbles scarred around him. 

Toph crossed her arms with an unimpressed look.

“I expected you’d at least be able to dodge the last one.”

Zuko fumed.

“I did, the rock just. Never mind this was just stupid.”

Toph scoffed.

“Well you certainly have the stubbornness of an earth bender but not the patients.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re too focused on other things that you’re not paying attention to what’s right in front of you. And I’m pretty sure you know what’s distracting you.”

“It’s nothing, let’s just get back to training.”

“Yeah no, you’re not going to be able to do any real earth bending when you’re like this. Go find one of the others and sort out your feelings and then we can keep going.”

Zuko watched Toph walk away before slumping back burying his face in his hands.

-

“Is something wrong, nephew?”

Zuko looked up to see Iroh standing next to him. He then gave a sigh at the question.

“Toph said I was too distracted for earth bending training and told me to deal with my feelings before we can start again.”

Iroh stroked his beard, separating the strands that had now started to noticeably grow out.

“That is more often easier said then done. Perhaps in the meantime it would be to recenter yourself with something more familiar.”

Zuko gave Iroh a confused look.

“I am suggesting we resume your fire bending training. It has been a while and will not due to have you rusty, especially if we are to run into Azula again.”

Zuko frowned at the mention of his sister’s name but nodded and got to his feet. He then followed Iroh to a place that was more suited for fire bending.

-

After running through his katas a few times Zuko started to feel much better. He even managed to master a few advanced moves within an hour of them being taught. Unfortunately, things fell apart when Iroh had attempted to teach Zuko to bend lightning.

Zuko had matched the steps and movements perfectly but when it came time to unleash the energy all that came from his fingertips was a large explosion, sending him backwards onto the ground. 

Iroh sighed.

“I was afraid this might happen. I had hoped that accepting your path as the Avatar had calmed your inner turmoil, but it appears it is still a violent storm within you. If you ever wish to master lightning, then you must let go of your feelings of shame.”

Zuko turned to Iroh after getting back to his feet.

“What do I have to be ashamed of? I broke away from the Fire Nation after learning what it was doing to the rest of the world and joined a group to help me right the wrongs of my people. I’m proud of that.”

“As you should be, but pride is not the opposite of shame, but it’s source. The more we grow the more our pasts can harm us. To truly be rid of one’s shame one must learn to accept and let go of past events and the feelings associated with them.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried? I want nothing more than to be rid of the feelings I have from that day but it’s not that simple.”

“It never is but talking about it with people you trust usually helps.”

That was apparently not what Zuko wanted to hear at that moment. He clenched his fists and rounded on Iroh.

“So, it’s just that easy, isn’t it?”

He then walked away ignoring his uncle’s calls for him.

-

The sun had started to set when Zuko heard someone talking.

“… will give up meat and sarcasm, ok? That’s pretty much my whole identity. Sokka the meat and sarcasm guy, but I’m willing to be the vegies and straight talk fellow, deal?”

That was Sokka’s voice. Zuko turned the corner to see a disheveled looking Sokka stuck in a hole.

“Sokka?”

Sokka’s face lit up at seeing Zuko.

“Zuko! Thank goodness, you got any meat?”

“What happened to you?”

“Not important, just earth bend me out of here already.”

Zuko frowned as he looked at the hole Sokka was stuck in.

“I’ll try, but I didn’t really get much farther than moving rocks around.”

Sokka looked at Zuko incredulously.

“Seriously? Thought that would be like not even the first step.”

“Yeah well Toph cut our training short.”

“Why would she do that?” 

“She said I was too distracted to focus. I then tried to pick back up with my fire bending with Uncle, but he said I have too much inner turmoil and I kind of walked away from him.”

He stepped back from the hole.

“Ok I think I can get you out, but it’ll take some time.”

He moved his hand and a small chunk of the rock pinning Sokka in place moved away.

“Yeah, well as long as you get me out.”

He then looked up at Zuko.

“So did your Uncle and Toph tell you what you needed to do about your problems?”

Zuko scowled.

“They said I needed to talk.”

He narrowed his eyes. 

“And don’t say anything. I know it should be easy, all I have to do is talk about what happened and I’ll feel better, but it’s not. Not for me.”

“Dude, since when is talking about feelings easy?”

Zuko stared at Sokka like he’d grown a second head.

“What are you talking about? You all talk about your feelings constantly. Toph talks about how smothering her parents were, Aang talks about being hidden away and her actual death, and Katara always talks about your mother.”

“I don’t.”

“What?”

“I don’t’ talk about feelings, because yeah, it’s hard. Talking about feelings is always hard. Toph only talks about her parents because we saw what they did, Aang talks about her past because that’s the whole reason she’s here, and talking about our mom has become so common for Katara it’s almost a reflex for her, but none of that is easy for them. They only talk about that stuff because talking helps them deal with it.”

Zuko looked to Sokka, his only eyebrow raised.

Sokka sighed.

“Look I’m not good at this. The point is Iroh and Toph were pushing you to talk, not because it should be easy, but because you’re obviously hurting.”

He shifted in his position and gave a look back to Zuko.

“Kind of like me right now so if you could hurry things up.”

Zuko’s eyes widened before quickly getting back to the task of widening the hole.

As he was working a small brown creature came up to them and nuzzled against Sokka.

“Oh Zuko, this is Fufu Cuddly Poops, Fufu Cuddly Poops this is Zuko.”

“You named a baby saber tooth moose-lion Fufu Cuddly Poops?”

“What? It’s cute. Wait did you say baby saber tooth moose-lion?”

A guttural growl came from behind them and both Zuko and Sokka turned to see a much larger version of the creature with massive teeth and antlers glaring at them.

“I’m guessing that’s Mama.”

The cub ran to its mother and disappeared behind some bushes, but the mom didn’t follow, instead just continued to glare at the two boys.

“Zuko get me out of here!”

Zuko tugged at the rock again but it still wasn’t enough to get Sokka free.

“Hurry!”

“I’m trying! Do you want me to crush you?!”

The moose-lion leaned down and got ready to charge, but just when it did, it slammed into a wall of rock.

“Wow, way to go Zuko!”

“That wasn’t me.”

The moose-lion stepped back from the wall and turned to face the boys again, still angry when the sound of electricity filled the air, and a bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of it. This seemed to be enough for the moose-lion and it finally ran off.

The boys then turned to see Toph and Iroh standing a few feet away.

“You guys needed some help?”

Sokka smiled jokingly.

“Nah, we totally could have handled it.”

Toph shrugged.

“Ok guess we’ll leave it back to Zuko to get you out. Should only take another hour or two.”

“No, no. Your help is very much appreciated.”

Toph smirked and easily bent the rock under him to push him out of the hole.

“Come on let’s get back to camp, Sugar Queen and Twinkle Toes were worried about you and I’m starving.”

-

Later that night just after dinner Zuko placed his bowl down and turned to the group.

“I think… I think I’m ready to talk. About what that man from the village said.”

Everyone turned their attention to Zuko.

He tensed but after a few moments let out a breath and started.

“So, you know about my father banishing me to hunt for the avatar.”

“I don’t.”

Everyone looked to Toph with expressions she couldn’t see. 

“Right…”

Zuko took a breath.

“I’ll just start from the beginning.”

Iroh placed a hand on his shoulder in a silent show of support in case things got too much for him and Zuko relaxed slightly.

“So, I guess I don’t really need to say that Ozai was not a good father.”

“Bit of an understatement.”

Zuko glanced to Sokka before continuing.

“He favored my sister for her advanced mastery of fire bending and forced us against each other. He’d say she was born lucky, while I was just lucky to be born. For years all I wanted was his approval, it led me to do a lot of harmful things, to myself and others.” 

He took another breath before finally getting into the story.

“One day when I was 13, he was having a meeting with his generals about the war. I wasn’t supposed to be there, but I was so obsessed with gaining my father’s approval I convinced Uncle to let me in.”

The atmosphere was tense 

“I had promised to be quiet and only watch, but then a general suggested a plan I couldn’t ignore. He wanted to sacrifice a division of brand-new recruits to an impossible battle as a distraction for other troops to attack from behind. It would have been a slaughter and I couldn’t just sit there and let it happen.”

“I stood up and called him out for his horrible and dishonorable tactics in front of everyone, including my father. He was not happy and told me I dishonored him by speaking out against the general. He said the only way to atone was to battle in an Agni Kai.”

“WHAT?!”

Everyone turned to Aang.

“But an Agni Kai is extremely dangerous. Only full-grown fire bending masters are meant to do them. You were barely older than me!”

Iroh sighed. 

“That may have been the case a long time ago, but Agni Kai’s have become much more common especially among nobility as expectations have grown harsher and more rigid.”

Aang looked to Zuko who seemed too lost in his own memories to have really registered the conversation around him.

“Zuko?”

Zuko blinked but didn’t quite snap out of it.

“I accepted the dule. It was stupid but I was consumed by my need to prove myself that I ignored everything else. Even what my father meant by him being the one to declare the Agni Kai.”

There was a collective gasp as the implications of what he’d said sank in.

“I thought I’d be fighting the general, but when it came time to fight, he wasn’t the one standing across from me. It was my father.”

“You had to fight your own dad at 13?!”

“No! …no, I didn’t… I didn’t fight him. How could I? I kneeled and begged him for forgiveness throwing the fight, but he didn’t accept it. He ordered me to fight but I refused and so he… he placed his hand on my face and…”

Everyone’s eyes landed on the scar. The scar that could now very easily be seen to be in the shape of a flaming hand.

Zuko opened his mouth to finish the story but only a strangled wheeze made it past his lips. His eyes were unfocused, and his breaths were coming in shallow pants.

“Zuko, breathe with me.”

Zuko’s eyes locked onto Iroh and slowly his breaths started matching his. Once he’d calmed down, he turned away from the group as small shutters ran through his body.

Katara gently reached out to turn him back towards them, tears glinting off his cheeks in the fire light.

“Hey, it’s ok, you don’t have to hide.”

Zuko looked to Katara then to the rest of the group. Nothing but warm accepting faces, free of judgment looked back at him and the tears came faster.

“I used to be so ashamed of what happened. I still kind of am, even though I now know it wasn’t my fault, I still feel like if I had been better, I would have been able to stop it.”

Suddenly he felt himself being pulled into a pair of strong arms around his shoulders followed shortly by a thinner pair around his waist. He looked down to see both Katara and Aang hugging him tightly. He then looked up to see Toph seeming to debate if she was willing to partake in non-violent physical affection and Sokka giving him a concerned look.

He looked back down at the girls squeezing him then back up at Sokka who thankfully seemed to get the message.

“Hey ok, don’t overwhelm the guy.”

At those words both Katara and Aang let go and Zuko relaxed. He gave Sokka a grateful smile, which was returned with a caring one.

-

After a bit more of less invasive affection and reassurance the group finally accepted that Zuko would be find on his own and left to go to bed. Of course, not without Toph promising to push him extra hard in the morning to make up for the lost day of training.

However, instead of going to sleep himself he went to go sit next to Sokka.

“I want to say thanks.”

Sokka brushed it off.

“No problem, we all know you’re not used to that much hugging.”

“No, I mean yeah thanks for that, but also thanks for letting me know that it’s ok for talking to not be easy. A lot of things that are easy for other people have been hard for me, it’s just nice to know that I’m not the only one having trouble with things.”

Sokka smiled and gently nudged Zuko’s shoulder.

“Hey don’t mention it.”

“Sure, just remember that advice when it comes time for you to talk about your own feelings.”

“Wait what?”

But Zuko had already left to set up his sleeping bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Zuko may have been a bit out of character at the very end but I really couldn’t resist that last line. However, I want to make it clear that he’s talking about Sokka talking about his own trauma not his growing feelings for him. Sokka is oblivious but Zuko is just as oblivious if not more so.


	12. The Library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this one really tried to get away from me. Both Sokka and Zuko kept wanting to go off and derail the story and I hand to beat their issues back into a coherent plot. We talked about feelings and trauma last chapter this is a plot progression chapter.

Zuko mimicked the steps Iroh showed, shifting his weight and energy down his arm through his stomach and out his other arm. He copied the movements a few more times before looking down in confusion.

“This feels more like water bending than fire bending.”

Iroh smiled.

“I was hoping you’d notice. After all, I was only able to invent lightning redirection after studying water bending extensively.”

“You studied water bending.”

Iroh nodded.

“Yes, I actually studied all forms of bending during my travels. They’ve helped me develop multiple different moves in fire bending.”

“You did?”

“Yes. You recall your breath of fire? I developed that trick by combining an air bender breathing technique for warmth with my own dragon’s breath.”

“Huh, always did wonder how Aang was able to spend so much time at the North Pole without a coat.”

“It is amazing what you learn when you pay attention and ask questions. Now let me see your lightning redirection move one more time before your earth bending teacher steals you away.”

Zuko nodded and got back into position.

-

Later Zuko flopped down on his sleeping mat with a grown as Toph strode past him.

Sokka went to sit down next to him and placed a hand on his back.

“Long day?”

“Toph is a menace.”

“And proud of it.”

The boys ignored her.

“She’s just trying to get you ready for what’s coming. We really don’t have that much time before the comet comes.”

Zuko buried his face in his sleeping mat.

“Don’t remind me.”

“Sparky could still use a vacation though, we all could.”

Sokka looked up at Toph.

“Uh, did you not just hear me? We don’t have time.”

“Yeah, we do. Zuko’s already got teachers for all four elements and is learning really fast. We’re not going to loos everything by taking a day off.”

“But we still don’t have a plan. I doubt the Fire Lord’s just going to let Zuko walk into the palace and challenge him to a fight. We don’t need a break we need intelligence.”

Zuko managed to lift his head enough to be part of the conversation.

“I would feel better if we actually had a plan for when we’re going to take down my father.”

Toph gave Zuko a pointed glare, which was amplified in its intimidation since she still knew where to look despite not being able to see him. He quickly looked back down at his sleeping mat.

“But a day to recuperate is still probably needed.”

Sokka looked to Zuko then Toph, not saying anything but still clearly unconvinced.

Toph huffed.

“Look, I know you haven’t been working your butt off like the rest of us…”

“I work just as hard as the rest of you. Where do you think our food comes from? There isn’t exactly a market around here.”

“Can’t be that hard if you’re the only one not tired.”

“Who said I wasn’t tired?”

“Well then sounds like you need a break too. Unless you want to admit that you haven’t been doing as much work as the rest of us?”

“Wait no…. that’s not what I…. aaaahhhhhggg.”

Toph just smiled knowing she’d got him.

“Fine we’ll take tomorrow off.”

Of course, that was when the other three members of the group came to camp. Aang sat down between Zuko and Toph and looked around.

“So, what we miss?”

“Snozzles agreed to us having a vacation tomorrow.”

Sokka opened his mouth to protest that it was a break not a vacation but Aang’s face lit up and she was already digging through her stuff to pull out a map.

“That’s great because there’ve been so many places I’ve wanted to visit. We can all take turns on where we want to go.”

She held out the map to Katara and started pointing to a few places.

“Oh, the Misty Palms Oasis sounds really nice.”

Sokka once again tried to tell them that they were taking a break not sightseeing, but he was ignored. Both Toph and Iroh had gotten on board to see the oasis and Zuko really couldn’t care less either way.

“Yeah I remember that place. It’s a pristine natural ice spring, it’s one of nature’s wonders.”

-

The oasis turned out to be very underwhelming having been converted from natural wonder of the world to free ice for fruity drinks at a shady tavern.

The group entered the tavern, noticing a gang of men in faded off-white clothing with scarves around their heads just outside. One spit down at Sokka’s feet, causing him to look at the man in angry disgust. The only reason he didn’t start a fight with the man being Katara and Zuko dragging him inside.

The tavern was about what one would expect. Cramped and dimly lit with its few patrons either drinking or passed out on a couple tables.

The only thing that stood out in the place, aside from the group themselves was the man ordering a drink. He wore similar off-white clothing to everyone else that covered most of his body, but he also had a wide brimmed hat and several packs of different supplies strapped around his waist and on his back.

He ordered a mango drink and they all watched as bartender used duel katanas to slice up the fruit and put it in a cup carved of ice, all in sharp, fluid movements.

Sokka nudged Zuko in the side.

“Hey, guess if the whole saving the world thing doesn’t work out you have a promising path to being a bar tender.”

Zuko just rolled his eyes.

Sokka then took another look at the drinks.

“Actually, those don’t look half bad.”

He ran over to the bar to order a drink for himself and the others went over to follow him. However, the man that had just ordered a drink didn’t see them and ended up bumping into Aang, almost spilling his drink on her.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Aang smiled up at the man.

“It’s no problem.”

She was about to step aside but the man quickly grabbed her shoulder.

“Wait is that.”

He rubbed the material of her top between his fingers and his eyes lit up.

“It is. Real sky bison wool.”

He looked into her eyes ecstatic.

“You’re a real Air Nomad.”

Aang took a step back. She looked around to see if anyone heard but the only other people she could see in the tavern seemed to not be listening.

“Um…”

The man continued to look at Aang in astonishment.

“A real living relic. Right in front of me.”

He then suddenly seemed to remember his manners and took a step back.

“Right. Professor Zei, head of Anthropology and Ba Sing Se University.”

“Hi, um I’m Aang.”

Zei looked absolutely ecstatic.

“Aang, yes a standard Air Nation name. Could you please tell me what temple you hail from?”

“Uh… it’s kind of complicated but I guess the Southern Temple?”

“So, there were survivors. I thought so. Oh, this is one for the journal.”

Aang looked to her friends a bit bewildered by the man in front of her.

Thankfully Sokka came to her rescue.

“So, Professor, you’re obviously a well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? We lost most of ours and the one we’re using is a bit unreliable.”

Zei turned to Sokka and smiled.

“Certainly.”

He pulled out a map and unrolled it on a nearby table. Sokka bent over it to examine it closely.

“What no Fire Nation? Doesn’t anyone have a good map of that place?”

Zuko looked away a bit guiltily, despite knowing that it wasn’t his fault that his ship blew up with all the maps and other useful information.

Katara traced her finger along the map where many different lines had been drawn.

“You’ve made a lot of trips into the desert.”

Zei sighed.

“All in vain I’m afraid. I’ve found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven’t managed to find the crown jewel, Wan Shi Tong’s library.”

Toph leaned back in a chair as she carelessly sipped at the drink she’d stolen from Sokka when he wasn’t looking.

“You spent years walking though the desert to find some guy’s library?”

Zei smiled as if he’d heard this before.

“Oh, this library is more valuable than gold, little lady. It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge. And knowledge…”

He paused to take a breath.

“… is priceless.”

Toph turned her attention back to the drink in her hands.

“Hmm. Sounds like a good time.”

Zei either didn’t catch the sarcasm or was just ignoring it as his smile grew even wider.

“Oh, it is. According to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers.”

“So, this spirit has attractive assistance, huh? Ow!”

Sokka looked to Zuko as he rubbed his arm where he elbowed him.

“He means they look like actual foxes.”

He then looked away, apparently unable to keep eye contact with Sokka much longer.

Katara rolled her eyes at the pair.

“You’re both right.”

Zei held his hand together as he pictured the spirit’s helpers.

“Hansom little creatures. Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books and scrolls from all over the world and put them on display for mankind to read. So that we might better ourselves.”

He pulled out a piece of yellowed parchment and spread it out to reveal a sketch of what the library was supposed to look like.

Sokka scrutinized the sketch.

“If this place has books from all over the world, it’s got to have a more modern map of the Fire Nation.”

Zei nodded.

“If it exists then it would be in Wan Shi Tong’s library.”

“Then it’s settled. Aang, you said we should all take turns choosing where we want to go for our vacations. Well I’m choosing my vacation at the library.”

Everyone looked at Sokka before Aang nodded and smiled.

“Ok, finding a lost spirit library sounds fun.”

Toph leaned back in her chair again.

“Speak for yourself.”

No one payed her any mind.

Zei then frowned as he looked the map.

“Of course, there’s the matter of finding it. I’ve made several trips into the Zi Hung Desert and almost died each time.”

His shoulders slumped.

“I’m afraid that desert is impossible to cross.”

The group all exchanged knowing smiles.

“Professor, would you like to see a Sky Bison?”

Somehow the smile of Zei’s face became even bigger and he practically ran out of the tavern.

The kids follow but Zuko noticed Iroh staying back.

“Aren’t you coming, Uncle?”

Iroh looked to a dark corner of the room where a person they had not noticed before sat. The person was in a dark cloak and was sitting next to a pai sho table. Iroh made eye contact with the person before turning back to Zuko.

“No, I think I’d rather spend some time with an old friend. I’ll meet you back here when you’re done.”

Zuko looked back at the person in the corner then back to his Uncle.

“If you say so.”

Iroh nodded.

“I do. Oh, before you go you might need this.”

He handed Zuko a small piece of paper.

Zuko looked down at it but it just seemed to be a list of names with the words White Lotus above it. He then shrugged and followed the other kids out towards Appa. He’d ask Iroh about it later.

-

They find Appa just outside the small circle of buildings defensively growling at the same men who’d been standing outside the tavern.

Zei quickly ran up to them and started to angerly shout.

“Sand benders, shoo! Away from the bison!”

The sand benders looked at Zei and the kids behind him before turning and walking away, apparently deciding a confrontation wasn’t worth it.

Once the area was clear everyone got onto Appa’s back and he took off.

-

Of course, finding a lost ancient library was a lot easier said than done. After the first hour of looking they all started to get disheartened. The hot sun and dry air not doing anything to help their moods.

All except Zei who somehow still found things to take note of and document despite being in the middle of a desert.

Toph then suddenly perked up and pointed out to the distance.

“There it is!”

Everyone quickly looked up in the direction she was pointing only to see nothing but the same endless expanse of sand.

“That’s what it will sound like when one of you spots it.”

She then waved her hand in front of her face reminding everyone of her blindness.

They all gave her deadpan looks then went back to searching.

-

Katara frowned.

“It’s supposed to be a massive building, it shouldn’t be this hard to spot.”

Zuko then narrowed his eyes as he looked at something off in the distance. He then held his hand out towards Sokka.

“Give me your spyglass for a moment.”

He then grabbed the telescope before Sokka gave an answer and held it up to his good eye.

“There.”

He pointed in the direction he was facing.

“What’s that?”

They all look to see what he was pointing at and saw a small tower poking out of the sand.

Sokka held up the sketch of what the library was supposed to look like and placed a finger near the top of the drawing. At the top of the building was a small tower that looked exactly like the one Zuko had found.

Appa landed and they all got off to get a better look at the tower. Once they were off, they noticed something in the distance coming towards them. It was a creature they had never seen before, a simple gray fox. In its mouth the fox held a scroll and as it approached it looked at them with an intelligence no animal possessed.

When it reached the base of the tower, it simply started walking straight up the side as if gravity had no pull on it whatsoever. It then disappeared through one of the structure’s windows and everyone looked to each other baffled.

“What was that?”

“It must’ve been one of the knowledge seekers. This is the library! No wonder I couldn’t find it, the whole thing is buried under the sand.”

Zei was over the moon with excitement.

“Well time to get excavating.”

He pulled out a ridiculously small shovel for what he was attempting and started digging into the sand.

Toph placed her hand on the pillar and shook her head.

“You don’t have to do that. The entire building is intact and clear. And it’s huge.”

Sokka looked up at the tower.

“That fox thing went through a window. I say we go up there and give it a look.”

Toph crossed her arms.

“I say you can go on without me.”

Katara put her hands on her hips.

“You got something against libraries?”

“I’ve held books before, and I got to tell you they don’t exactly do it for me.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

-

Thanks to Sokka’s boomerang and some rope they are able to get into the library relatively easily.

As they descended Zei couldn’t help but remark on how stunning he found the interior of the library, making a comment about buttresses that Sokka and Aang couldn’t help but snicker at.

Once they had reached the landing, however, the kids made him stop and ran to hide as they heard the sound of rustling feathers getting closer.

Out of the shadows cast by the many bookshelves emerged a large owl-like creature. However, the term owl was used loosely. Its body was so black it was impossible to distinguish any sort of depth, making determining where its limbs were a useless endeavor. In contrast its face was so white it was almost hard to look at without straining one’s eyes. Not that one would really want to look directly at its face for a long, with its large piercing eyes that seemed to contain immeasurable depths. There was really no doubt, this was Wan Shi Tong.

Wan Shi Tong made his way across the walkway before stopping at the rope the group had used to climb into the library. He stared unblinking for a moment before turning his head and a near 180 to where they were hidden.

“I know you’re back there.”

While his beak did move, his voice seemed to echo from all around.

The group continued to hide, but Zei apparently could not control his excitement and ran out to greet the spirit.

“Hello. I am Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University.”

Wan Shi Tong was not impressed.

“You should leave the way you came. Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology.”

He motioned to a pillar with several animal heads mounted on it.

Taking pity on the professor the kids came out from their hiding spot to confront the spirit as well.

Sokka looked Wan Shi Tong over, somehow less dazed by his appearance than the others.

“Are you the spirit who built this place?”

“Indeed, I am one shi tong he who knows 10,000 things. And you are obviously humans, which, by the way are no longer permitted in my study.”

Aang tilted her head.

“What do you have against humans?”

“Humans only bother learning things in order to destroyed their enemies. There is no betterment and that kind of knowledge.”

He narrowed his eyes and leaned in close to Sokka.

“So, who are you trying to destroy?”

“What no. Destroy? No, we’re not into that. We’re just here to find knowledge for knowledge sake.”

To Sokka’s credit while his lie was very evident, he still seemed to sound confident while saying it, even with Wan Shi Tong’s piercing stare directed at him.

Still Wan Shi Tong wasn’t buying it.

“If you are going to lie to an all-knowing knowledge spirit the least you can do is sound convincing.”

“I’m not lying. Look we came here with the Avatar, bridge between our worlds. He’ll vouge for me.”

Zuko shot Sokka a look before bowing to the spirit. He was clearly uncomfortable but when he talked he was able to sound more convincing then Sokka.

“Please allow my companions passage into your domain. In return I promise we will not misuse the knowledge we gaine from your library.”

Wan Shi Tong’s gaze shifted from Zuko to Sokka before settling back to his original position.

“Very well, I will let you peruse my vast collection. On one condition. To prove you’re worth as scholars you must each provid me with a piece of knowledge to add to my collection.”

Zei was the first to go and held out a large book he apparently been carrying in one of his many bags. Katara gave the water bending scroll she had stolen from the pirates and Aang gave up the old map they been using that she had taken from the refuge.

Sokka dug around in his things to try and find something suitable. As he did so a piece of paper fell out of his bag and Zuko picked it up.

“Hey those are the notes I took on the Mechanist’s balloon and how to make it work.”

“That will do.”

Before Sokka could react Wan Shi Tong had already brushed his wing the over the paper and it was gone.

“What no I didn’t mean…”

But Wan Shi Tong had already turned his attention to Zuko.

Zuko patted down his pockets before pulling out the list of names Iroh had given him. He held it out to the spirit looked over it critically before taking it without a word.

He then turned and left the group alone.

Once the spirit was gone Sokka smiled.

“Well I’d say that went pretty well.”

Zuko turned to glare at him before walking off into the library.

“Hey Zuko wait up.”

-

Sokka finally caught up to Zuko at the end of one of the long hallways.

“Hey what’s wrong?”

“You just made me lie to a spirit, what do you think?”

Sokka’s eyes went wide before taking a step back.

“Well it’s not actually a lie, we’re not trying to destroy the Fire Nation. Heck if we’re lucky we’ll even find a way to avoid anyone other than the Fire Lord getting hurt.”

“That’s not the point. I’m the Avatar, the bridge between the human and spirit world, and I’m trying to be a good one. Or at least as good of one I can be, and I can’t do that when you’re making me choose between doing my job and you.”

Sokka’s face became one of guilt.

“Oh, Zuko I’m sorry. You’re right that was mean and stupid of me and I never should have put you in a situation like that. I promise I won’t do it again, and if I ever do you have full permission to throw a fire ball at my head.”

It was clear Zuko was attempting to stay mad but wasn’t having much luck. Eventually he looked at Sokka’s smile before giving up and returning a small smile of his own.

“Fine I forgive you, but I’m holding you to that promise.”

Sokka’s face lit up before taking Zuko’s hand and pulling him back down the way they came.

“As you should, now let’s go find Aang and Katara before we get separated forever.”

Sokka then turned back towards him.

“Oh, and just for the record, you’re doing pretty good as the Avatar in my book.”

Zuko was stunned for a moment before frowning.

“Was that supposed to be a pun?”

-

They found Aang and Katara huddled on the floor next to a bookshelf and leaning over a book together.

Upon seeing the two boys Aang jumped up and held the book up for them to see.

“Guys look at this. It’s a book all about all the Avatars up to Kyoshi. Like the one before her Avatar Kuruk who spent his time as the Avatar fighting dark spirits and Avatar Lua who invented a style of fire bending with her mind. It even shows how the first Avatar got his bending.”

She flipped through the first page and held it up to show a man standing in front of a massive creature as it rested two of its claws on his head and chest.

“That’s very nice Aang but that doesn’t help us with our current problem. Keep an eye out for anything that would give us information on the Fire Nation.”

Aang slumped but put the book away and started looking through the shelves again.

As they continued down the aisles of books Sokka would occasionally pick up a book or scroll and after determining if it was useful would put it in his bag.

Aang followed Katara until they got to the end of the aisle where there was a door to another room. Aang curiously peaked into the room and let out a loud gasp.

Everyone looked up from what they were doing and ran over to what Aang was looking at.

The room was large but also cramped as every available space was taken up by a shelf crammed full of scrolls. At the back of the room was a large carving that depicted the Air Nation symbol.

Aang took a shaky step into the room.

“This is all stuff about the Air Nomads, there’s so much.”

Tears started to well up in her eyes.

Katara came up behind her and put her arms around her in a hug, letting Aang turn and cry into her shoulder.

“It’s not all gone.”

They all stayed like that for a while as they let Aang take in that her culture hadn’t all been lost.

A bit later Sokka got a thoughtful look.

“If there’s a room like this for the Air Nomads then there should be one for the Fire Nation too. All we have to do is find it.”

There was a squeaky bark sound from behind him and he looked to see one of the knowledge seekers behind him.

Sokka blinked at it before Zuko spoke up.

“I think they want you to follow them.”

“Right. Then let’s go.”

They all started following the fox spirit. However, Zuko didn’t miss that Sokka had quickly doubled back to the Air Nomad room and came back with a few extra scrolls in his bag.

-

The fox brought them to another room much like the one with the Air Nomad information in it. However, when they stepped inside all that greeted them were piles of ash.

“No, what happened?”

They all looked around horrified at the destruction.

Zuko looked away with gritted teeth, not able to bear the sight of his country’s history destroyed like that. No wonder Aang had reacted like she had at seeing the Air Nomad room. This kind of destruction was heartbreaking, and the relief at seeing so much survive must have been overwhelming.

Just then he saw something glint among the ashes and he went over to pick it up. Once he discovered what it was his fists clenched.

“Why would fire benders destroy their own history like this?”

Zuko turned to face Katara.

“It wasn’t just any fire bender. I found a metal given to respected leaders in the Fire Nation navy. Guess who’s name is on it.”

Sokka narrowed his eyes.

“Zhao.”

“Exactly, this is probably where he found out about the moon spirit’s mortal form. He then burned everything on the Fire Nation to avoid anyone from finding a weakness like he did.”

“Uhg, even when he’s gone, he’s ruining everything!”

“No wonder Wan Shi Tong was so upset about humans being here. This is horrible.”

“Yes, it is.”

Everyone froze and turned to see Wan Shi Tong standing in the doorway. His eyes scanned over the piles of ash, and while his expression did not change, a deep sorrow could be felt from the spirit.

Zuko glanced around the room before turning back to Wan Shi Tong and taking a breath. He then stepped forward and bowed deeply to the spirit.

“Great spirit, I know no apologies can make up for the horrible actions inflicted on your library, but as the Avatar and the former crown prince of the Fire Nation, I will do all I can to help restore the information you have lost. This is a promise I can guarantee.”

Wan Shi Tong looked down at Zuko.

“You are right. Nothing can make up for this.”

He then turned and flew off deeper into his library, leaving Zuko staring at the floor feeling usless.

Sokka then stepped out of the room and clenched his fists angerly.

“It’s not fair. Just when I think we might finally be given a break it still blows up in our faces.”

He slumped.

“We might as well leave. No point in making a spirit even more angry at us if we won’t find what we’re looking for.”

They were then startled by the sound of a bark behind them. They all turned to see that the knowledge seeker that had led them to the Fire Nation room was still there and standing next to a pedestal with something displayed under glass on top.

Sokka went over and read out what could still be seen on the burn paper.

“The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History.”

He turned to Zuko.

“Do you know anything about this?”

Zuko shook his head.

“No, Fire Nation education tended to leave out anything that would paint the Fire Nation in anything other than a forever strong and perfect empire. Darkest Day doesn’t sound like it fits that description.”

“Figured. There’s a date at the top but everything else is too burned to make any sense of. If only we could find out what happened.”

The fox spirit tugged on Sokka’s tunic and started heading down a hallway.

“Looks like we might be able to.”

Aang quickly started running after it followed by the rest of the group.

-

The fox stopped inside a large room that instead of holding books housed an advanced looking mechanism. On the curved ceiling was painted a depiction of the sky and it appeared there was a place to input a date and time on the machine.

The fox pushed a lever next to the mechanism and two curved rails moved across the ceiling as the dome above them transformed into a depiction of the night sky, complete with shining stars. One rail had a stylized picture of the moon and the other the sun. The two rails crossed each other before settling in different positions as the dome became that of the daylight sky once more.

Zei gasped in wonder.

“It’s a planetarium, able to track the movement of the heavens throughout time.”

Sokka’s eyes went wide.

“Then that means…”

He ran over to the mechanism and quickly input the date on the burnt paper. He pulled the leaver and the same thing happened, only with the son and moon in different locations. Then just as the dome was transferring over to daylight again the two rails intersected right at the moon overlapping the sun.

“It’s a solar eclipse! The parchment was being literal. That’s it, something bad happened that day in the Fire Nation. I don’t know what, but I do know why. Fire benders lose their bending during a solar eclipse!”

Katara’s eyes lit up.

“Of course, just like how that lunar eclipse did with the water benders and the North Pole. This is huge.”

“We need to see if there’s another eclipse before the comet.”

The team stared inputting dates between that day and the comet. The process was tedious and every time the moon and sun passed without crossing chipped a little bit more at their hope. Then just as they were getting into the summer months it happened. The moon covered the sun, and the room went dark.

It didn’t last long only for the equivalent of eight minutes on their sped-up cycle, but it was enough. They had a time they could safely get into the palace and face the Fire Lord.

A small wine came from behind them and the fox came closer. Sokka smiled and pulled out a piece of dried meat for it.

“Thank you.”

The fox took the meat before looking back up at Sokka. It’s eyes then seemed to change to ones that looked almost human before changing back to those of an animal and it ran off.

After getting over that strange encounter Sokka turned back to the group.

“We have to get this information to the Earth King in Ba Sing Se. If we get him on board his men can hold back the Fire Nation army long enough for us to get to the palace and we can walk right on in. No battle needed.”

“Battle did you say?”

Everyone turned to see Wan Shi Tong step into the room, eyes like steel.

“Mortals are so predictable. From the beginning you planned to misuse my knowledge for evil purposes.”

Zuko took a step to try and calm the spirit down but Sokka held out his arm.

“No, I promised I wouldn’t make you choose between me and your job as spirit bridge again.”

Sokka turned to Wan Shi Tong.

“Don’t be mad at anyone else. It was my idea to come here to find information to help us in our fight, and I’m sorry for not being honest in my intentions. I understand how valuable knowledge is.”

He glanced at Aang.

“Using information to hurt people is wrong, but what we learned here has made it possible for us avoid people getting hurt, on both sides.”

Wan Shi Tong bent down so Sokka would be eye level to his scrutinizing gaze.

“Hmm. It appears some humans are capable of change. I can see why other spirits find you amusing.”

He stood back to his nomal possion, yet somehow seeming bigger than he’d been before and looked over the rest of the group.

“For that I will allow you to leave with what you’ve already learned.”

He stepped aside to let them out of the room.

“That is if you are able to reach the exit in time.”

“What?”

“While you may be better than others it is clear that I can no longer trust mortals to not misuse my knowledge. You will be the last humans to set foot in my library ever again.”

Just then the whole library shook.

“You better hurry, it seems your earth bender friend is getting tired.”

With wide eyes everyone franticly ran out of the planetarium and through the library to where they had come in. It wasn’t easy as the building would occasionally shutter, and sand had started pouring in from cracks in the ceiling. They were quickly losing time.

They all got to the rope just in time and started scrambling up. Sokka then stopped part way up and looked over to see Zei sitting in a pile of books, happily reading and ignoring the chaos around him.

“Professor, we have to go the library is sinking!”

Zei looked up from his scroll at the shout before shaking his head.

“I’m not leaving, I can’t. I’ve spent too long trying to find this place. There’s not another collection of knowledge like this in the world. I could spend an eternity in here.”

The kids looked stunned at him before Katara called back up to them to just leave.

They didn’t have time to argue and they all made their way up the rope and out of the tower.

They all jumped out, Aang cushioning their fall as they landed on the hot sand. They got up just in time to see Toph stumble back from the tower where she’d been holding the library up and for the tower to forever sink beneath the sand.

Aang then looked around as she noticed something missing.

“Wait where’s Appa?”

Toph shook her head, her tear stained cheeks all that was visible behind her bangs.

Aang took a step back as the reality of what that meant sank in and her own tears spilled out.

“No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway I did enjoy sprinkling in a few lore bits and headcanons in this chapter. The part about an Avatar creating a form of fire bending with her mind comes from a video done by Antoine Bandele where he speculates about an animation error that left one of the avatars in the background of a shot from LoK without arms and talks about how that could have been the origin of combustion bending. I threw it in because I wanted there to be at least one good guy combustion bender. It felt kind of wrong that the only people with a tattoo reminiscent of a Hindu god are bad guys.


	13. The Desert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make the ending work with Aang not being able to go into the Avatar state. I think I did ok and managed to slip in some foreshadowing in there too.

Once the horror had finished sinking in it was quickly replaced with anger, and Aang sent it lashing out at Toph.

“How could you let them take Appa? Why didn’t you stop them!”

The wind around them started to pick up as if the element itself was reacting to her anger without her even needing to bend.

“I couldn’t, the library was sinking. You guys were still inside.”

Toph’s argument was rational and Aang knew that, but she wasn’t done being upset and didn’t want to be rational. Toph didn’t understand her connection to Appa, none of them did. They didn’t know what it meant for her to be separated from him.

“You just didn’t care! You never liked Appa, you wanted him gone!”

She regretted the words as soon as she said them, but she was still too angry to take them back.

Zuko looked like he was thinking of how to step in but seemed far too unsure of how to handle the situation.

Thankfully Katara took over that role and placed a gentle hand on Aang’s shoulder.

“Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives.”

The fight drained from Aang at Katara’s intervention, but it was clear she still wasn’t ready to let go of her anger.

Sokka looked out at the vast expanse of sand all around them.

“Who’s going to save our lives now? We’ll never make it out of the desert without transportation.”

“Was that really all Appa was to you? A fancy way to get around? None of you even care if he’s ok or not!”

Aang stomped away and sat down in the sand to sulk.

“We’re all concerned but we can’t afford to be fighting now. We need to focus on getting out of here first.”

Aang clenched her fists around her glider before getting back up.

“I’m going after Appa.”

She launched herself into the air and flew off, not even caring as the winds grew stronger.

“Aang wait!”

But Katara was too late, she was already too far away.

Katara looked down then turned back to the rest of the group.

“We better start walking. We’re the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se.”

Everyone agreed and they started to make their way across the shifting sand.

-

After a while, the winds died down. However, the loss of stinging stand against their exposed skin was quickly replaced with relentless and inescapable heat.

Sokka stopped to try and find a way to cool down but was suddenly run into by Toph.

“Hey, can’t you watch where your…”

“No.”

“Right, sorry.”

Zuko wordlessly took ahold of Toph’s hand and waited for her reaction.

She paused for a moment before nodding and letting him lead her through the shifting grains her earth bending registered as nothing more than a fuzzy soup.

After a few more steps Toph turned in the vague direction of Katara.

“Could I have some water.”

“Alright, but we got to conserve it.”

She bent a small amount of water from her flask and split it into five small spheres for each of them and Momo.

Sokka swished his around in his mouth before swallowing and making a face.

“We’re drinking your bending water? You used that on the swamp guy! Ew!”

“I’m sorry but it’s all we have.”

Sokka then pointed to something in the distance.

“Not anymore, look!”

Everyone who could, looked to see a single cactus growing among the desolate landscape.

Sokka took out his machete and hacked off the top, revealing a milky liquid inside. Before anyone could tell him that it was a bad idea, he downed it in a few gulps.

“Sokka, you really shouldn’t be eating strange plants.”

Sokka didn’t listen and continued drinking as Momo munched on the discarded rind.

“Oh, come on Katara, it’s fine.”

He copped open another part of the plant and handed it to Zuko.

“Come on, it’s very thirst quenching.”

Zuko looked down at the cactus skeptically but slowly brought it to his lips. However, before he could take a sip Sokka’s pupils suddenly dilated and he started to sway on his feet.

“Quench ha, quench. Quenchy. Ha ha. Drink cactus juice. It’ll quench ya, nothing’s qunchier, it’s the quenchiest!”

Katara and Zuko stared at him as he flailed around while Toph scrunched her face in confusion.

Katara grabbed the cactus from Sokka’s hand and dumped it out.

“Ok, I think you’ve had enough.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

Zuko quickly tossed the piece he’d been holding away, a mix of confusion and disgust on his face.

Sokka then turned to Zuko and a huge grin spread on his lips.

“ZUKO!”

Zuko was then knocked away from Toph as he suddenly had an arm full of cuddly water tribe boy.

Sokka looked up at Zuko as he hugged him with a dopy grin.

“Hot.”

Zuko’s right cheek blushed bright red as he tried to separate himself from Sokka.

“We’re in the desert.”

Sokka giggled and continued to cling to Zuko.

“Hot Zuko. Fire bender hot. Desert fire hot …ha”

Zuko was momentarily distracted from Sokka’s nonsense rambles as Momo flew in rappid circles around them and then face planted in the sand.

He made eye contact with Katara who just shook her head.

“Come on, we need to keep moving.”

She took Tophs hand and started leading them back in the direction they’d been headed.

Resigned to his fate Zuko let Sokka grab his hand and followed after.

Sokka let his head roll back and face the too bright sky.

“How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?”

-

Meanwhile Aang hadn’t given up on her attempt to catch up to the people who’d taken Appa, but with every moment that passed it was clear they were much too far ahead. Even with air bending there was only so fast she could go, especially when she was completely unfamiliar with the scorching sun and endless heat. There was no way she was getting Appa back like this.

The realization sent her back to the ground. She looked out at the expanse of sand in front of her. She would have cried if her body had any moister left to spare, instead all she could do was slam her staff into the ground with a strong strike of air bending behind it.

-

The blast sent so much sand into the air it was visible to the rest of the team and they turn to look at it.

“What is that?”

“What is what?”

Toph shifted her feet, obviously unable to sense what Katara was talking about.

However, before Katara could answer her, a still completely out of it Sokka decided to speak.

“It’s a giant mushroom. Maybe it’s friendly!”

Zuko gave Sokka an exacerbated look before grabbing him again and dragging him away.

“I highly doubt anything that made something like that is in the mood for friendship.”

Katara nodded and took Toph’s hand again.

“We should just keep moving.”

As they walked Sokka went back to clinging onto Zuko.

“Hey Zuko. Hey. I got a question.”

“What?”

“Do you think about boys?”

Zuko nearly tripped over his own feet at the question.

“What?”

He could hear Toph snickering, but his attention was too focused on processing what had just come out of Sokka’s mouth.

“I do. Boys… hee hee. Hot boy.”

If he hadn’t been so sunburnt Zuko’s blush would have been visible all down his neck.

“I uh…”

Sokka just grinned up at him. Then fell on his face.

-

The sun eventually started to set, casting the desert into an eerie orange light with the dunes casting long shadows. It also lowered the temperature greatly, but it barely registered in their exhausted minds.

What did get their attention, however, was Aang flying over then and landing a few feet away.

Katara’s face lit up and she ran over to her, but her smile fell when she saw how defeated she looked.

“I’m sorry, Aang. I know it’s hard for you right now, but we need to focus on getting out of here.”

She reached out to place a hand on Aang’s shoulder, but it was brushed off.

“What’s the point? We won’t survive without Appa, we all know it.”

“Aang, don’t say that. We’ll make it; we just have to stick together.”

She looked to the others for help but between Toph’s inability to use her seismic sense, Sokka still out of it on cactus juice, and Zuko’s general pessimism they weren’t really encouraging.

She looked to each member of the group, but it was in vain. She looked at the ground in despair before clenching her fists in determination.

“We are getting out of this desert, and we’re going to do it together.”

She pulled Aang to her feet.

“Everybody hold hands. We can do this.”

She pulled Aang over to Toph who was already holding Zuko’s hand and Sokka happily latched back onto Zuko after being pulled back up from where he’d fallen.

Katara took the lead and continued marching them across the sand.

-

They managed to go another hour before the last of the sun’s rays slipped below the horizon and Katara decided it was time to rest.

They all collapsed on the ground and Katara rationed out the last of her water. She then turned to Sokka and held her hand out towards his bag.

“Sokka let me see the stuff you got from the library.

Sokka gasped dramatically and clutched the bag to his chest.

“What? I didn’t steal anything! Who told you that?”

He pointed a finger accusingly at Momo.

“It was you! You ratted me out!”

Zuko rolled his eyes.

“Sokka, she was there, we all were.”

Sokka’s entire attitude changed.

“Oh, ok I believe you.”

He smiled at Zuko and handed his bag to Katara.

Katara looked from her brother to Zuko with a small smile before taking the bag and looking through it.

Aang tucked her legs up to her chest.

“It doesn’t matter. None of those will tell us where Appa is.”

“No but they can tell us which way Ba Sing Se is.”

She then noticed the scrolls Sokka had taken from the Air Nation section. She staired at them for a moment before smiling and pulling them out.

“And I think there’s something that might cheer you up.”

She held out the scrolls to Aang, but she didn’t even lift her head to look at them.

“I know it’s not Appa but…”

Aang blew a wall of wind between them and Katara stepped back, clutching the scrolls so they wouldn’t be hit. Despite how she was acting now, Katara knew Aang would be heart broken if she actually damaged them.

Giving up on getting through to Aang she placed the scrolls back in the bag and pulled out a star map.

“If we follow the stars we’ll know where we’re going. We’ll also be able to travel at night when it’s cooler and rest during the day.”

She looked over the group, but they’d all fallen asleep by then. She decided to let them rest for a few hours.

-

Back in the oasis Iroh looked out at the desert with a worried expression.

“Something wrong, brother?”

He turned to the person he’d been playing pai sho with.

“Just concerned. While I trust my nephew and his companions it has still been several hours.”

“The line between protection and trust is a difficult one all parents must find, especially when they feel they have failed at finding it in the past.”

They took ahold of Iroh’s hand.

“I will ask some of the sand benders to keep an eye out for them. In the meantime, you must rest.”

Iroh nodded.

“Yes, a man needs his rest.”

-

A few hours later Katara woke everyone up to get them moving again. Unfortunately, it appeared that even a restful sleep had not completely sobered Sokka from the cactus juice and it took a few tries to get him up right, while Toph complained about missing the taste of mud over sand.

Aang had apparently already been up, but her mood had not improved. However, she did get up and follow Katara as she use the star map to guide them.

Like before Sokka clung to Zuko but also attempted to have a conversation with Yue. Not that it made any sense.

“Is the ocean nice. I hope so. I have nice people too. You probably knew that. You know everything now.”

He sniffed and buried his face into Zuko shoulder.

Zuko looked away with a guilty expression. He then noticed something poking out of the ground but before he could say anything Toph tripped over it and faceplanted into the ground.

“Ow!”

She sat back up and rubbed her stubbed toe.

“Crud! I’m so sick of not feeling where I’m going. And what idiot buries a boat in the middle of a desert?”

“A boat?”

“Believe me I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations.”

Katara attempted to brush the sand away but Aang stepped up and bent enough winds to blow it all away and one swift gust.

Katara gasped.

“It’s one of the gliders the sand benders used.”

She climbed up on it and smiled.

“And look it’s got some kind of compass on it. I bet it can lead us out of here.”

She termed the others.

“Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We’re gonna make it!”

Aang stomped up onto the platform while Katara helped Toph up and Zuko dragged Sokka. She then bent a small tornado and they started skating across the sand much faster than they had before.

-

A while later Katara looked down at the compass with a frown.

“Hey Zuko, can you tell if I’m reading this right? The needle on this compass doesn’t seem to be pointing North.”

She handed the star map over to Zuko and he frowned at it.

“You’re right. Do you think it’s broken?”

Sokka leaned back towards them as he held onto Momo’s tail who was attempting to fly in the opposite direction they were going.

“Relax, I’m sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here.”

Katara ignored Sokka and looked out to the horizon. Her eyes then went wide at what she saw. A massive rock plateau jutted out of the ground only just visible against the dark sky.

“That’s what the compass is pointing to. That giant rock must be the magnetic center of the desert.”

Toph immediately perked up.

“A Rock! Yes, let’s go!”

Katara nodded.

“Maybe we can find some water there.”

Aang’s eyes narrowed and shoved more air into the sail.

“Or sand benders.”

-

Getting to the top of the rock wasn’t all that difficult once they arrived and Toph let out a massive sigh of relief. She then flopped down bending the earth around her as if it were snow and she was making an angel.

“Finally, solid ground.”

The relief was short lived as they approached a large ominous cave dripping with a strange viscus substance.

As they made their way inside Sokka took a breath and smiled.

“I think my head’s finally starting to clear out the cactus juice.”

He then turned to the sticky goop on the wall and scooped some up to taste it. He then immediately spit it out in disgust and Zuko hit his he forehead. Although, it was clear he was also attempting not to smile.

Katara was much less amused.

“You’ve been hallucinating on cactus juice all day, and then you lick something off a cave wall?!”

“I have a natural curiosity.”

Toph shifted her feet over the floor and frowned as the two water tribe siblings bickered.

“I don’t think this is a normal cave. This was carved by something.”

Everyone went quiet at that.

“There’s something buzzing in here. Something that’s coming this way!”

They all bolted out of the cave just as a swarm of buzzard wasps came flying out behind them.

The birds flew around them and attempt to get closer but Aang and Zuko were able to hold them off well enough. Both Toph and Sokka attempt to help as well but between Toph not being able to sense them in the air and Sokka’s head still not being fully back to normal they don’t really do much.

That unfortunately let one get too close and it scooped up Momo before anyone could react.

Aang’s face became furious and she took off in pursuit.

“I’m not losing anyone else out here.”

It wasn’t hard to catch up and it only took a strong gust to force the buzzard wasp to drop Momo. However, Aang wasn’t done with it yet. She landed and sent a slicing whip of air at it. The buzzard wasp let out a pained screech before dropping out of the sky. Aang stared at it for a moment before turning away without even checking to see if it survived.

-

Meanwhile everyone else had made their way down the rock to force the buzzard wasps to only attack from the front. Zuko continued fighting while Katara instructed Toph where to send her own bending.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and the buzzard wasps continued to converge on them.

Then out of nowhere several pillars of sand erupted from the ground, slamming the buzzard wasps away.

They all looked to see several sand benders standing in front of them.

Aang landed in between them and the sand benders, ready to defend her friends if needed.

One of the sand benders stepped forward. He pulled down his scarf to reveal a tan face with a short beard and bald head.

“What are you doing out here with one of our sand sailers?”

His tone was accusatory and Aang clinched her fists around her staff, but Katara stepped in before things got violent.

“We found the sailer abandoned in the desert. We have important information we need to get to Ba Sing Se that could end the war, but our bison was stolen.”

A younger man, probably not more than a year or two older than Zuko stepped forward angerly.

“You dare accuse our people of theft?”

Toph stiffened at the voice.

“Quiet, Ghashiun. No one accused our people of anything. Their story is plausible with what we were told back at the oasis. If it’s true, then we must give them hospitality.”

Ghashiun stepped back at being scolded.

“Sorry, father.”

Toph’s head jerked up.

“I recognize the son’s voice. He’s the one that stole Appa.”

Katara turned to her.

“Are you sure?”

“I never forget a voice.”

Wind started to pick up as Aang listened to the conversation, her expression becoming next to murderous.

“You stole Appa! Where is he? What did you do to him?!”

Ghashiun stepped back and turned to his dad.

“They’re lying.”

Aand slammed her staff down causing one of the sailers to explode with a slicing blast.

“Where is my bison? You tell me where he is now!”

Another sailer exploded.

The man turned to Ghashiun.

“What did you do?”

“It wasn’t me.”

Toph stomped her foot.

“You said to put a muzzle on him.”

“You muzzled Appa!”

The wind that radiated off of Aang knocked the sand benders to the ground.

Zuko’s eyes flashed and he gripped his head and chest. Sokka turned to him worriedly but Zuko brushed him off and they turned their attention back to Aang.

A rapid tornado swirled around Aang and a third sailer was reduced to splinters, leaving only the one they’d found.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

Her voice was amplified by the swirling wind making it sound deafening and inhuman.

Ghashiun scrambled back.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know you had information about the war.”

Another blast of wind slammed into them.

“Is that really all that matters? There is so little of the Air Nation left and you stole him away for your own selfish ends!”

Ghashiun cowered back as Aang towered over him.

“Tell me where Appa is?”

“I traded him to some merchants. He’s probably in Ba Sing Se by now. They were going to sell him there.”

Aang raised her staff.

“Pleas we’ll escort you out of the desert. We’ll help however we can!”

Aang wasn’t listening, but before she could bring her staff down arms were around her.

“Aang please, this isn’t you.”

Aang blinked, looked from her staff to the teen below her, and quickly dropped it. She then turned and sobbed into Katara’s chest as she was held.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I’m not trying to shove Zukka into every chapter it just keeps happening. Also I couldn’t pass up the chance to fluster Zuko with a drunk Sokka.


	14. Across the Pass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought a bit on how I wanted them to get to the city. It really came down to Suki being more important to introduce back into the plot than Jet, and the Serpent’s Pass being a more interesting location to write than a boat. Don’t worry though, Jet will appear later.
> 
> Also here is were I start laying the ground work for possible Sokka/Suki/Zuko. It’s not a lot just the canon stuff between Sokka and Suki and Suki being a lot more observant of the boys feelings then either of them are.

Once the sand benders got them back to the oasis Iroh ran out and gathered all five children into a hug.

“I was so worried when you did not come back after sunset.”

He stepped back and let his hands drop.

“What happened? Where are the professor and Appa?”

Aang’s mood once again soured at hearing Appa’s name and turned away as the others told Iroh what happened.

At hearing what happened to Appa Iroh’s face fell, and after assuring Toph it wasn’t her fault, turned to Aang. He came up behind her, but didn’t tell her to turn around, just simply started speaking.

“I remember hearing about the bond between an air bender and their bison. It is a connection far deeper than most. I cannot tell you that I fully understand it as I have not experienced it myself, but I can tell you that a connection like that isn’t easily taken away. I can assure you that you will find each other again. And do not forget you are not alone in your search.”

Aang turned around before nodding, her face still blank.

“I know.”

Iroh smiled back at her but it was clear he was still worried. He then turned to the rest of the group and ushered them towards a building with some potted plants out front.

As they walked Zuko hesitated at hearing the leader of the sand benders scolding Ghashiun for stealing Appa. He clenched his fists before taking a breath and continued walking.

-

Once inside the team was hit with the smell of several different flowers and herbs. It was quite a sight to see so many plants after being in the desert for so long.

The person Iroh had played pai sho with came up to them and handed Iroh a stack of official looking documents.

“These should get you into Ba Sing Se.”

Iroh took the documents and bowed thankfully.

“Thank you.”

Sokka frowned at the documents.

“What are those?”

“Forged passports. There is a hidden bay that takes refugees across the lake and into the city, but they won’t let you on the fairies without the proper paperwork.”

“But I already have a past port?”

Toph pulled a green piece of paper from her pocket.

Iroh nodded as if he’d known that all along.

“Yes, but the rest of us do not. While you may be able to convince the attendant some of us are your escort, they will still question five people without passports.”

Toph shrugged, not really having anything to say to that and put her passport back in her pocket.

Just then another man came into the shop.

“There are a couple of men outside asking questions about wanted posters.”

Iroh went to the door and peaked out to see Master Yu and Xin Fu holding up a wanted poster of them.

“We’re not going to be able to leave without being spotted.”

Toph cracked her neck.

“I can take them.”

The person who’d given them their passports shook their head.

“That won’t be necessary, come with me.”

-

A short time later they were all hidden in large pots with shallow rooted plants covering them from view as a cart carried them out of town.

-

A few miles later when they were far from the men hunting them, they got out and made their way to the bay on their own.

As they walked, they came across a large stream and used it to wash off and rehydrate.

Toph stayed in the shallows while Aang and Katara swam out into the deeper parts, Katara using her bending to propel her through the water. Iroh was content to let his feet soak while Zuko awkwardly stood next to Sokka as they rinsed the grit and sand out of their clothes.

They had just started to finish up when a small family, consisting of a man and two women, came across the stream as well.

The man smiled and waved to them.

“Hello there, fellow refugees.”

They came closer and the group turned to them.

Iroh stepped forward and smiled at the family.

“Hello, would you happen to be headed to Ba Sing Se as well?”

The man nodded.

“Yes. We’re trying to get there before my wife, Ying, has her baby.”

He placed a hand lovingly on Ying’s large belly as he looked at her.

Katara smiled.

“Great we can all travel to Full Moon Bay together.”

Ying nodded.

“That sounds great.”

Everyone then started getting dressed and packing up, but as soon as Aang finished putting on her clothes Katara stepped up with a cloak in her hands.

“Since we’re still trying to keep a low profile, I thought you might want to wear this.”

Aang looked down at her very distinct Air Nomad outfit then took the cloak without a word and put it on, expression never changing.

-

It turned out that Full Moon Bay was not what one would think of when hearing the name. First off, the whole thing was underground, carved into the side of a cliff by several earth benders, the only exit being a small hole just big enough for the boats to get through. All other entrances were only accessible with the help of the earth bending soldiers guarding the secret pathway.

Once inside the team was hit with the sight of hundreds of people all crowded together in the hidden station. Some held crying children close while others shared what little food they had amongst their small groups.

Katara watched a pair of kids huddle against a tent as they waited for access to the boats.

“I can’t believe how many people’s lives have been uprooted by the Fire Nation.”

“We’re all looking for a bit of life, safe behind the walls of Ba Sing Se.”

They all made their way to the main terminal where a shrewd looking woman was shouting at a man for trying to bring a cart of cabbages onto the ferry. The cart was quickly demolished by a chained platypus bear as the man cried out.

“My cabbages!”

“Next!”

The kids jumped at realizing they were the next group being called by the woman and quickly ran up with Iroh calmly behind them. They each handed their fake passports, or real in Toph’s case, to the woman. The woman scrutinized them, and almost said something at seeing Momo, before seeing Toph’s passport and her attitude suddenly shifted.

“Ah, the golden seal of the flying boar, it is my pleasure to help anyone from the Beifong family.”

Toph turned away from the woman to hide the grimace that flashed across her face.

“It is your pleasure, now if you will give us our tickets so I and my entourage can get going.”

The woman’s face twitched as she glanced at Momo again before nodding.

“Of course, there’s just the matter of the animal.”

“Is there a problem with my seeing eye lemur? I can’t exactly get around on my own without him.”

She pointed to her milky eyes and the woman stammered out an apology. She quickly stamped the tickets and handed them to the group.

Iroh casually flirted with the woman as he received his ticket which all the kids pointedly ignored.

Once they were out of earshot Sokka laughed as he held out his ticket.

“Wow your friend did some great work, that woman really didn’t suspect a thing.”

Sokka was then roughly yanked back and suddenly he was staring up at a stern looking girl about his age, dressed in a security outfit.

“Uh is there a problem?”

The girl stepped forward making Sokka lean back.

“Yeah, I got a problem with you. I’ve seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, thinks you’re hilarious.”

Her eyes scanned over the rest of the group before landing on Zuko and she smiled. She then leaned in closer and spoke in a low voice to quiet for anyone other than them to hear.

“And let me guess, you’re traveling with the Avatar.”

Everyone tensed at that, except for Sokka as something finally seemed to click for him and he narrowed his eyes.

“Do I know you?”

The girl grabbed his shirt.

“You mean you don’t remember? Maybe you remember this.”

Zuko took a step forward only to stop when the girl planted a kiss on Sokka’s cheek and Sokka’s face lit up.

“Suki!”

The two quickly hugged leaving the others feeling a bit awkward from the exchange.

-

After introducing Suki to Toph, Iroh, and Zuko they all went to sit in one the break rooms designated for the guards.

“So, you’re Suki?”

Suki turned to Zuko and scowled.

“Yes, and you’re the guy who set my village on fire.”

Zuko stiffened, before Suki’s face softened into a smile.

“And the guy who put it out, so guess it evens out. Being the Avatar and that cute face don’t hurt either.”

Zuko spluttered a bit as he tried to figure out if that had been a compliment or a joke about his scar but didn’t get the chance as everyone else seemed to want to talk to Suki as well.

“You look so different without your makeup, and the new outfit.”

Suki turned to Katara and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, the crabby lady at the desk makes all the security guards wear them.”

She then glanced over to Sokka and smiled flirtatiously.

“Although, it seems I’m not the only one with a new look. Sleeveless works on you.”

Sokka smiled and stretched his arms out to show them off as Katara rolled her eyes.

Aang looked over the station.

“Are the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors around?

“Yeah, after you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we’ve been here ever since.”

She then frowned as something occurred to her.

“So why are you getting tickets to the ferry? Wouldn’t you just fly across on Appa?”

Aang suddenly closed up as everyone else looked at the ground.

Katara was the one to tell Suki what happened, and her face became heartbroken. She turned to Aang and reached a hand out to her.

“Are you ok?”

Aang turned away.

“I’m fine.”

Just then they heard a cry from below them and they looked down to see Ying and her family looking up to them with desperation.

“Help please our belongings were stolen. Our passports, our tickets, everything’s gone.”

Aang looked to Suki who shook her head.

“No, if they don’t have their passports then there’s no way for them to get new tickets, I’ve seen it happen before. The rules here are very strict. The only way for them into the city now is the Serpent’s Pass.”

The family’s faces grew pail.

“What’s the Serpent’s pass?”

“A narrow strip of land that crosses the lake, but it’s incredibly dangerous.”

Aang got a determined look and jumped down to the family, briefly revealing her bending and clothing as she did so. However, the family didn’t get the chance to say anything about it as Aangs next words left them speechless.

“You’ll get to the city safely. I’ll lead you through the Serpent’s Pass.”

-

After some light scolding from Katara and loud complaining from both Sokka and Zuko the rest of the team eventually agreed that they really couldn’t leave this family to fend for themselves and they would all help them across the Serpent’s Pass.

They started to make their way out of the station, Sokka still complaining when they heard a voice calling to them.

“Wait, I’m coming too.”

They all turned to see Suki in her full Kyoshi Warrior outfit and makeup running up to them.

Sokka looked at her with a worried frown.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Suki frowned.

“I thought you’d want me to come.”

“I do, it’s just…”

A complicated look crossed his features as his eyes darted around. They landed on Zuko and he quickly looked back to Suki.

“Just what?”

Her tone wasn’t harsh or accusing like it might have been when they first met. It was soft, like she genuinely wanted to know what would make him not want her with them.

His face then softened, and she smiled at her.

“Nothing, I’m glad you’re coming.”

She nodded and went to join the others, not seeing the pained look Sokka gave her as she did.

-

The Serpent’s Pass was definitely not a pleasant looking path to the city. Nothing more than a jagged strip of land across the lake with a width of no more than twenty feet at it’s thickest and a sheer drop on either side in multiple places. It wasn’t hard to see why everyone preferred the hidden ferry rides to this treacherous rout. The only upside was that it seemed to be a fairly straight shot to the other side.

“Huh, I thought it’d be more wind-y, you know like a serpent.”

Sokka gave a shrug.

“Guess they must have misnamed it.”

They then look up at the archway at the beginning of the path, an ominous message carved into its side.

Ying gasped at seeing it.

“What awful writing.”

“What does it say?”

Katara read it out loud for Toph to understand.

“It says ‘Abandon Hope.’”

Ying put her hands to her face as her husband hugged her.

“How can we abandon hope? It’s all we have left.”

Aang stared ahead at the pass.

“The monks would say that hope is a distraction. So maybe abandoning it is for the best.”

Everyone was stunned by the uncharacteristic statement and Katara shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.

“What are you talking about?”

“Hoping for something different isn’t going to get us to Ba Sing Se, and it’s not going to find Appa. We need to focus on what we need to do right now, and that’s getting across this pass.”

Katara frowned in worry but didn’t argue.

“Ok, if you say so.”

Aang then turned and they all started following her down the narrow path.

-

As they walked Suki explained why it was so hard to get into Ba Sing Se. How the Fire Nation controlled the western part of the lake and had constant patrols to hide whatever they were working on there. This did not help the mood while they were currently exposed on that side of the lake with a Fire Nation ship not too far off.

Things only got worse when a section of the path crumbled away and fell into the water below. Thanks to Toph no one fell with it, but it did alert the ship to their presence.

“They spotted us. Go! Go!”

Sokka ushered everyone down the path as Aang jumped up and sent the flaming bolder heading towards them back into the ship. It collided but more were just sent out.

Zuko stepped into help but some still got through and hit the side of pass.

Sokka hung back as he looked worriedly at the two benders only to whip around at a frightened gasp from Suki. One of the boulders that got through had hit right over head of where Suki was standing and several sharp rocks had come lose, all falling straight towards her.

Without thinking he quickly pushed her out of the way, putting himself in the line of the falling rocks.

However, he was saved by Toph’s quick reflexes and the rocks were sent over the side of the cliff harmlessly away from Sokka’s body.

Sokka didn’t even acknowledge that though as he ran over to check if Suki was alright. He then pulled her to the part of the path that was sheltered from the Fire Nation controlled waters, completely ignoring Toph in the process.

“Thanks for saving my life Toph. No problem Sokka.”

She gave a huff and started running away from the danger too.

Once everyone else was safely concealed from the Fire Nation Aang and Zuko quickly joined them, leaving the ship battered and burning behind them.

-

They continued to walk for a few more hours until the sun started to sink below the horizon, and they stopped on a wider section of the pass to camp.

Zuko rolled out his blanket and got ready to sleep but was distracted by Sokka calling out to Suki again. He tried to ignore them, but it was hard as it appeared Suki wasn’t happy about Sokka’s constant fretting. It came to a pitch when Sokka freaked out over seeing a spider on her blanket and she stomped away fuming.

After a moment of debating with himself he got up and followed her.

“Don’t take it personally.”

Suki jumped and slipped into a fighting stance before seeing him and standing back into a more casual position.

“What?”

“That’s just how Sokka is sometimes. He worries.”

Suki crossed her arms and Zuko sighed.

“Ok, the spider thing was a bit much, but I mean it. He just wants to protect everyone.”

“Really? Because he seems to be only doing it with me.”

Zuko glanced to the moon before turning back to Suki.

“Look just talk to him. He backed off after the others said something.”

Suki gave him a look.

“The others? Not you?”

Zuko pointedly looked away and she gave him a soft, understanding smile.

“Ok I’ll talk to him, thank you.”’

Zuko turned back and nodded.

-

Meanwhile Katara went over to Iroh and Toph who were setting up their own blankets.

“Have you seen Aang anywhere, I want to talk to her.”

Iroh gave an understanding nod as Toph pointed behind them.

“She’s being very not Aang like on the ledge over there.”

Katara thanked her and ran off to find Aang.

She found her standing alone on a ledge overlooking the lake just as Toph had said. She tried to get closer to see her face but there wasn’t much room on the ledge so she just started talking.

“You know, it’s ok to miss Appa.”

Aang didn’t respond.

“What’s going on with you? In the desert all you cared about was finding Appa, and now it’s like you don’t care at all.”

Aang hung her head.

“You saw what I did out there. I was so angry I lost control of myself. I wanted people to know how much I hurt that I ended up wanting to hurt them. I hated feeling like that.”

“But now you’re not letting yourself feel anything.”

“I would have gone into the Avatar state if I could. I felt it. It scares me to know I can still feel that way.”

“I know, pain can make us do things we never thought we would but locking your feelings away isn’t the answer.”

Aang still didn’t look at her but she still stepped closer.

“I know sometimes it hurts more to hope, and it hurts more to care, but you have to promise me you won’t stop caring. That’s not who you are.”

Aang didn’t face her but nodded.

Katara smiled and held out her arms.

“Come on, you need a hug.”

Aang looked to her and for a moment it seemed like she would accept, but instead she just bowed and walked away, leaving Katara to look mournfully after her.

-

After her conversation with Zuko, Suki took his advice and went to talk to Sokka. She found him sitting under an arched stone formation, looking up at the moon.

As she got closer a cloud shifted and the two of them were bathed in moonlight.

“It’s a beautiful moon tonight.”

“Yeah, it really is.”

She sat down next to him and turned to face him.

“Look I know you’re just trying to help, but I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can.”

“Then why are you acting so overprotective. Zuko said you do it with everyone but you’re still different with me. Why?”

“You talked to Zuko?”

“Don’t change the subject. Why are you trying to protect me so much?”

Sokka’s face became sad as he looked back to the moon.

“It’s so hart to loos someone you care about. Something happened in the North Pole and I couldn’t protect someone. I don’t want anything like that to ever happen again.”

Understanding filled Suki’s eyes and she smiled at him before it morphed into a playful smirk.

“I lost someone I cared about too. He didn’t die. He just went away. I only had a few days to get to know him but after some time I learned that he was smart, brave, and funny.”

Sokka narrowed his eyes and stood up.

“Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?”

“No, he’s about your height.”

Sokka continued to pout.

“Is he better-looking?”

Suki laughed and stood up as well.

“He is you, stupid.”

Sokka looked away and blushed.

“Oh.”

They looked into each other’s eyes and slowly leaned in. Then Sokka stopped and leaned back.

“I can’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you shouldn’t be. It’s not you.”

He glanced back to camp with a torn look, and realization crossed Suki’s face.

-

Back at camp Zuko watched Aang curl up alone on her blanket as Katara went to her own a few feet away. He turned over and watched Sokka and Suki come back and lay down on their own blankets.

He then quickly shut his eyes as they looked over to him and pretend to sleep. Not that he, or any of them, would really be able to sleep much that night.

-

The next morning, they continued walking only to come across a section of the pass that was submerged under the water.

Katara then stepped up and started bending the water around them.

“Everyone single file.”

She created a bubble of air just big enough for all of them and they followed her across the lakebed.

A school of fish swam next to them and Momo attempted to snatch one but was startled back by a large shape floating by.

“What is that thing?”

The answer came in the form of a mass of green scales ramming into the bubble, causing it to collapse.

Acting fast Toph bent a pillar of earth beneath them, pushing them to the surface. However, they weren’t the only thing to surface as the head of a giant water serpent broke through and let out a loud screech.

“I think I just figured out why they call it the Serpent’s Pass!”

The serpent lunged but was blasted back by Aang’s bending.

Katara then created a frozen path to the other side of the pass for everyone to run across.

They had all almost made it across when Sokka realized Toph wasn’t with them. He turned to see her still on her stone platform.

“Toph, come on! It’s not safe.”

“That’s ok, I’m just going say here on my little island where I can see.”

The serpent then lunged again forcing her onto the ice bridge.

“Ok, I’m coming.”

She inched her way across the ice, shaking with fear as she did so.

Sokka reached a hand out towards her, the only thing preventing him from running out on the ice himself being Katara’s grip on his shoulder.

“You’re doing great! Just follow my voice.”

“Kind of hard to ignore.”

“You’re almost there.”

Suki watched the exchange with a contemplative look.

However, as soon as Toph made it passed the half way point the serpent slammed it’s body into the ice, shattering it instantly and sending her into the water.

“Toph!”

Sokka yelled and was about to dive in after her but Suki was faster, and despite her armored dress not at all being suited for swimming, she made it to Toph in surprising time.

Meanwhile, Katara, Zuko, and Aang engaged with the serpent to distract it from the two in the water as Iroh took over the role of preventing Sokka from jumping in himself.

Suki grabbed Toph just as she slipped beneath the surface and easily carried her back to shore where Sokka pulled both of them into a bone crushing hug.

The serpent was then taken care of by the others when they created a whirlpool to fling it into the far cliff and sending it limply back into the water.

-

With the serpent gone the rest of the trek across the pass was pretty uneventful and they made it to the other side with no problems. Which was of course when Ying suddenly stumbled and clutched her stomach.

“Oh no!”

Everyone turned to her as her family held her up.

“What’s wrong?”

“The baby’s coming!”

They looked over to the walled city that was still at least another half mile away. There was no way they were going to make it in time.

Sokka started to panic but Katara had it handled.

“Calm down, I helped Gran Gran deliver a lot of babies back home. Aang get some rags, Sokka water, Zuko you and Iroh make a fire, Toph I need you to make an earth tent, a big one.”

Everyone nodded and headed off to do their tasks. Toph bent several slabs of rock around the family and Katara pulled Suki inside.

“Come on I’m going to need your help.”

After about half an hour everything was set up. Ying was panting and squeezing her family’s hands as Katara spoke gentle encouragements.

“You’re doing great, now get ready to push. One, two, three, push!”

Ying let out a scream just as Sokka was coming in with the boiled water and upon seeing what was going on promptly fainted on the spot.

-

Later the tent was filled with the cries of the now cleaned and swaddled baby.

Toph smiled down at a recently awakened Sokka.

“So, you want to see the baby or are you going to faint like and old lady again?”

“No no, I’m good this time.”

He got up and followed Toph inside with Zuko and Iroh behind him.

A moment later Katara came to the entrance and looked down at Aang.

“Aang, you have to come see this.”

Aang got up from her curled position and walked into the tent. She paused at the entrance and looked over the scene in front of her.

All her friends were huddled around the family and the baby, even Zuko was smiling at the small infant. It was so warm and joyful that she couldn’t help but stare for a moment. She took a step closer to get a better look at the baby and a pair of gray eyes met her own. Aang’s jaw dropped open before morphing into a wide smile.

Ying cradled her baby closer.

“She’s beautiful.”

Her husband cupped their child’s head in his hand.

“What should we name her?”

“I want our daughter’s name to mean something.”

Aang felt her eyes tear up and she brushed them dry.

“I’ve been going through a really hard time lately, but seeing your daughter, knowing what it means for her to be here, has made me hopeful again.”

Ying smiled and turned to her husband.

“I know what I want to name our baby now. Hope.”

“That’s a perfect name. Hope.”

-

They all left the tent to give the family privacy with their newest member.

“I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting.”

Everyone looked to Aang.

“I thought I was trying to be strong and in control, but really I was just running away from my feelings. Hope isn’t something to be ignored, it stops you from giving up even things are bad, or you don’t know what’s going to happen. Seeing that baby reminded me of that.”

She finally let the tears fall and accepted the hug from Katara, smiling into her shoulder as she did so.

Everyone else smiled as well and Aang turned to them when she broke the hug.

“I promise to find Appa and come back as fast as I can. I just really need to do this.”

They all nodded in understanding. They then said their goodbyes and let Aang fly off towards the city. They then all went to pack up and get ready to head to the city.

Sokka was going through his bag to make sure he didn’t lose any of the scrolls he’d taken from the library when Suki walked up to him.

“It’s been really great seeing you again, Sokka.”

Sokka quickly stood up with a confused look on his face.

“Whoa, hold on. Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?”

“I came along because I wanted to make sure you got through the serpent’s pass safely. But now I need to get back to the other Kyoshi Warriors.”

“So, you came along to protect me?”

The look he gave her was incredulous.

“Yes, I know how that sounds, and I’m really sorry about last night. We were talking and saying things, and I just got carried away but I shouldn’t have assumed…”

She was cut off by Sokka’s lips on hers. However, before she could react, he pulled back and smiled lovingly at her.

“You were rambling. Thought I would make it clear.”

Suki blinked for a moment as she processed what had just happened before smiling back at him and kissing him back.

They broke away again and rested their foreheads together.

“You definitely made that clear. So, just to make another thing clear, it’s not uncommon to have more than one partner on Kyoshi.”

Sokka gave her a confused look.

“Just thought you should know that I don’t mind sharing.”

She glanced at Zuko, who currently had his back to them and was talking with Toph about something, then back to Sokka.

“I’ll see you again after you talk to the Earth King. The Kyoshi Warriors all want to help out as much as we can.”

Sokka nodded and waved as Suki turned to head back to the ferry station.

-

Aang made short time flying over the last stretch to their destination. She landed on the outer wall and looked out over the city. Just then something caught her attention and she looked behind her to see something that made her blood run cold.

There off in the distance, emblazoned with the insignia of the Fire Nation and flanked by eight tanks on each side, was a massive drill headed straight for the wall.


	15. The Drill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of me wondered if I really needed to write this episode.  
> But I guess the drill does come up later and I did end up putting something in there that would be important to the plot in a couple chapter.   
> As well as some not so subtle references to a certain episode.  
> So I over all I'm happy with it.

Inside the drill Azula sat on a triple thrown with Mai and Ty-Lee as the man commanding the operation talked about how easily Ba Sing Say would fall to the drill. She made no change to her expression as he talked, just simply looked down at the man as he turned to face them.

“Nothing can stop us.”

Ty-Lee looked through the periscope and frowned.

“What about those muscle-y guys down there?”

Sure enough several earth bending soldiers were taking stances in trenches along the outside of the wall, ready to face down the drill.

The man scoffed.

“Please, the drill’s metal shell is impervious to any earth bending attack.”

Azula turned to him.

“I’m sure it is, War Master Qin, but just to be on the safe side...”

She turned her attention to her friends.

“Mai and Ty-Lee, take the earth benders out.”

Mai slid the knife she’d been spinning around her finger back into her sleeve and got up to follow Ty-Lee outside.

“Finally, something to do.”

-

The Avatar team and Ying’s family had made it pretty far by the time they saw Aang flying back to them.

“Aang what are you doing here? I thought you were looking for Appa.” 

Katara started to run over to Aang but the look she gave her made her pause.

“I was but something made me stop, something big.”

“What’s so big that Appa had to wait?”

Aang ushered them passed the rocky out cropping blocking their view and pointed.

“That.”

Ying clutched Hope close to her.

“We made it to Ba Sing Say and we’re still not safe.”

Sokka shook his head.

“No, you get inside the city with the other refugees. That drill is not getting through that wall.”

Ying shared an uncertain look with her family before giving a hesitant nod and turning to the hidden bay.

Once they were too far to overhear them Zuko turned to Sokka.

“So how exactly are we going to stop that drill?”

Sokka stumbled a bit at the direct question when Katara pointed to the base of the wall.

“Maybe we won’t have to.”

Everyone turned to see the line of earth benders getting ready to confront the drill.

Iroh nodded and folded his hands together.

“Ah, yes the Terra Team. A formidable platoon of elite earth benders. They can plow through Fire Nation tanks impressively fast. Could very easily be a match for this drill.”

“The Terra Team, huh? Good group name. Very catchy. We should have a group name.”

“You can brainstorm dumb names later, Snoozles, right now I want to watch some earth benders crush a drill.”

With that they all turned their attention back to the drill.

The Terra Team did take out several of the tanks flanking the drill, either flinging them into the air to crash elsewhere or slicing through them with stone pillars. However, when they got to the drill their attempts to stop it easily crumbled under the drill’s endurance. Not that they had much time to do much as two figures emerged from the drill and started attacking the earth benders.

One sent a volley of arrows at them while the other leaped over their heads and with a few quick jabs sent the men falling limply to the ground. In a matter of moments, the entire team of earth benders had fallen.

The group staired in shock at seeing how fast the city’s defenses were decimated by two teenaged girls.

“I’m feeling a strange combination of terror, and pride that we actually managed to last more than five minutes against those girls.”

The others nodded in agreement.

Aang gripped at her staff in worry.

“So, what’s the plan now?”

Everyone turned to Sokka.

“Why is everyone looking at me?”

“You’re the idea guy.”

“So, I’m the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That’s a lot of pressure.”

Katara crossed her arms.

“You’re also the complaining guy.”

“That I don’t mind.”

Zuko looked over to Iroh.

“Uncle, you led a battle here once any ideas on how we might defend the other side?”

Iroh stroked his beard.

“This is far different than my 600-days siege.”

Toph crossed her arms.

“Yeah, no kidding. This isn’t two armies battling on level ground. This is a small group of teenagers and an old man against a machine no one’s seen before and two girls who took out like 50 earth benders in less than a minute.”

Aang gave an involuntary shiver.

“How does Ty-lee even do that? The taking away your bending and make you go all noodle limbs with just some punches thing.”

Katara looked out at the men being dragged back to the wall by other soldiers.

“She blocks their chi. With a good enough understanding of the human body, she's able to target the weak points and cut off the flow of energy. It’s like she takes people down from the inside.”

Sokka’s eyes went wide.

“That’s it.”

They all turned to him.

“What’s it?”

“What you just said. That’s how we’re going to take down the drill, the same way Ty-Lee took down all those big earth benders.”

Toph’s face lit up in understanding.

“By hitting it’s pressure points!”

“Taking it down from the inside.”

Katara nodded but still looked concerned.

“That’s a good idea but how are we supposed to get inside?”

Toph smiled and cracked her knuckles.

“Leave that to me, Sugar Queen.”

Toph stomped on the ground and suddenly they were all underground.

“Follow me.”

“How? We can’t see anything.”

“Yeah, and I have no idea what that’s like.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Just follow my voice.”

-

Toph led them under the battle ground and let them out right beneath the drill. Once they were out Sokka pointed out a hatch in the drill’s floor that Aang quickly jumped to and started helping the others through. However, when she got to Toph and Iroh neither of them reached to her.

“No way I’m getting in that metal monster. I can’t bend in there. I’ll try to slow it down from out here.”

Aang nodded then turned to Iroh.

“If Mai and Ty-Lee are here then Azula most definitely is here as well. It is best to have the two people who can redirect her lightning in the two different places she could become a problem. Just in case she tries to shoot someone in the back.”

“Please don’t joke about that, but yeah good point. Good luck.”

Aang climbed into the drill leaving Toph and Iroh outside.

-

Sokka led the other three around the lower mechanisms of the drill as he thought out loud.

“I’m going to need a plan of this machine, some schematics that show what the inside looks like. Then we can find it’s week points.”

“There should be someone with something like that around here. Machines like this usually have engineers to run and fix things.”

Sokka nodded at Zuko’s words as he eyed a valve. He then pulled out his club and smashed the valve clean off, a violent hiss of steam coming out from the damage.

“What was that for? Someone’s going to hear us?”

“Exactly, and that someone is going to be an engineer.”

Realization flashed in everyone’s eyes and they all quickly went to hide in the now steam filled room.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for an engineer to come. He looked down at the busted pipe and very conveniently pulled out a schematic to take a look. However, before he even had the chance to pull out a wrench Katara bent the steam into ice, freezing him where he stood.

“This will work thanks.”

Sokka grabbed the schematics from his hand and they ran off.

-

Deeper into the drill Sokka unrolled the schematics and laid them out to see them.

“It looks like the drill is made of two main structures. There's the inner mechanism and the outer shell held together by these support beams.”

He pointed to said beams on the schematics.

“If we cut through them the whole thing will collapse.”

The others nodded and they all started running for the outer shell.

-

Cutting through the support beams was a lot easier said than done. Not only were the beams completely metal all the way through but were also much thicker than the schematic seemed to indicate. Katara and Zuko we're only able to get through a couple of beams before they were completely wiped out.

Katara put her hands on her knees breathing heavily.

“At this rate we won't make enough damage before the drill makes it to the wall.”

Aang looked at the beams and frowned.

“I could try making the supports more brittle by cooling them down with air bending, but I still don't think that would be enough.”

Just then War Minster Qin’s voice came through the pipes.

“Congratulations crew the drill has made contact with the walls of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory.”

A chill went down the kids’ spines at the announcement.

-

The drill shuddered as it started breaking through the stone wall. Whatever wasn't thrown to the side as ruble was broken down and mixed with water to be dumped out as a disgusting slurry in the back.

-

In a panic, Sokka started shoving at one of the beams they had sliced through, but of course it was useless. One broken brace was not going to stop the drill.

“We're putting all we've got into busting these braces but it's taking too long.”

Aang then got a thoughtful look.

“Maybe that's the problem. We shouldn't be cutting all the way through.”

She jumped to her feet and looked at Zuko.

“Hasn't Toph been teaching you About how you shouldn't be putting all your energy into one strike?”

“Yes, but how do you know that.”

“Iroh keeps telling us that it's important to draw wisdom from other sources and watching you train is fun.”

“You just like watching Toph beat me up with rocks.”

Aang gave him a far too innocent smile.

“Anyway, the point is that we don’t have to put all our energy into breaking these beams just weaken them.”

Sokka’s eyes lit up.

“Then we can hit the drill with a final blow on top to make it all come crashing down.”

With their revised plan the benders quickly got to work weakening the support beams, the process going much quicker this time. After creating slices in nearly every beam they decided it’s time to finish and they all start running to the exit.

-

Unfortunately, someone had found the frozen engineer and informed Qin and Azula what had happened. So as soon as they were at the doorway a bolt of blue flame cut them off.

“Wow Azula, you were right, it is Zuko… and his new friends.”

Ty-Lee gave a flirtatious smile towards Sokka which through him for a bit of a loop before Katara yanked him to the exit.

Azula and Mai ran down to chase them while Ty-Lee flipped over the beam they were standing on to fall gracefully towards the team. However, she was blown off course by Aang’s air bending and was forced to land on a beam farther away.

With Azula and Mai hot on their heels the team was forced to split up with Katara and Sokka going one way while Aang and Zuko went another. Katara managed to throw her water bag to Zuko but that was all the time they had before the Fire Nation girls caught up.

Mai followed the water tribe siblings while Azula chased after Zuko and Aang.

Aang glanced behind them then to Zuko.

“You keep going, I’ll hold her off.”

“Absolutely not, you are not facing Azula alone. She’ll fry you!”

“I’m not going to fight her, just distract her long enough for you to get away. You’re going to need more than fire bending to take this drill down and you can’t do that with Azula right behind us.”

Zuko grit his teeth before sighing.

“Fine, but if she starts bending lightning you promise to get out of there.”

“Of course, I’m not stupid enough to jump in front of lightning.”

Grudgingly Zuko accepted that and ran off leaving Aang behind to face Azula.

-

It didn't take long for Azula to catch up with Aang.

“Aw did ZuZu leave you all alone. He should know better than to leave his toys with me, I always break them.”

She sent a fire blast at Aang who dispersed it with a gust of air and then quickly dodge the next volley of attacks.

-

Meanwhile Zuko managed to get on top of the drill. With his mask firmly in place he ran out onto the hull and started slicing an X into metal for the final blow. Which was of course when several boulders started raining down on him.

“Are you kidding me?”

He then then yelled up at the soldiers throwing down the rocks.

“Stop throwing rocks down here!”

The general turned to his soldiers.

“Men, whatever you do, don’t stop throwing rocks down there!”

Zuko wished he could take off the mask to do a proper facepalm.

-

Back inside the drill Aang was having trouble dodging Azula’s fire blasts. There wasn’t exactly a lot of room to maneuver in the narrow hallways and inevitably she was forced back a few times.

That was when a large pipe next to them started to strain and swell as if backed up. Aang stared at it for a moment before realization of what was going to happen hit and she quickly turned to run.

“Got to go bye!”

For a split second Azula watched her go before snapping out of it and bolting after her.

-

Zuko had finished cutting through the hull and was in the process of finding something to wedge into the cut when he had to quickly put out a blue blast of flame headed for him. Once the fire had cleared, he locked eyes with Azula.

A shock of panic went through him at what it might mean for her to be there while Aang wasn’t, but he didn’t have time to think about it as he was almost hit by twin jets of flame shot from both of Azula’s hands. They traded blows for a while, both managing to avoid the other’s attacks as well as the rocks the soldiers were still uselessly flinging from the wall. Zuko attempted to catch her off guard by quickly shifting from one element to the other but Azula still managed to dodge every one of his attacks. Even as the hull started to become slick as the slurry burst from the seems in the drill her form didn’t break.

Just then the drill shuttered as it finally broke through to the other side of the wall, throwing both of them off balance. Azula was the first to get hers back but instead of attacking she simply smirked at Zuko.

“You’re certainly putting up more of a fight than your little air bender friend. Perhaps you’ll scream louder than her too.”

Zuko froze then shook his head as if trying to shake out the images brought up by Azula’s words.

Still, it was enough of a distraction for Azula to take her stance and slowly swing her arms around to build up electricity. However, before she was able to strike, she was thrown to the side by a gust of air smacking into her, landing her in the slurry and sending her over the side of the drill.

Zuko looked up to see Aang, whole and unharmed, popping up from the hatch and smiling at him.

“Sorry, after I lost Azula in the hallways it took me some time to get up here.”

Zuko blinked before getting back to his feet and nodded. He then ran over to the slice he’d made in the hull.

“I’m going to need something to wedge in here to make the hit effective.”

Just then a boulder fell onto the hull a few feet away from them.

“How about that?”

Zuko nodded.

“That’ll work.”

Zuko got to work shaping the boulder into what he needed while Aang watched out for any other surprise attacks. That turned out to be needed because as soon as Zuko had finished the wedge and got it fitted in the slice, Azula came climbing back over the drill.

Aang blocked her attack just as Zuko jumped up and slammed his heal down on the wedge. The impact rippled out from the kick and through the drill, sending Azula backwards and cleanly snapping the weakened supports. The whole thing shuttered before slurry exploded from every seam and the drill completely came to a halt.

-

With Zuko, Katara, and Toph it didn’t take long for them to remove the slurry covering all of them, even Momo helped by trying to eat some of it.

Turned out that while Aang and Zuko were busy with Azula and hitting the drill on top, Sokka and Katara had escaped the drill by going out the slurry line. Then Katara and Toph had used their bending to clog up the drill pipes which was why the drill exploded the way it had.

Once they were cleaned off, they made their way to the station to enter the city proper. However, as soon as they stepped foot into the station Zuko froze and Aang frowned.

“Does anyone get a really bad feeling all of a sudden?”

Everyone looked back at them.

“No, why?”

The two blinked before relaxing, shaking off whatever weird feeling they’d gotten.

“It’s nothing, come on let’s get going.”

Zuko led them to the trains and they followed, not noticing a pare of angry brown eyes watching them from afar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I need some help thinking of a fake earth kingdom name for Aang.   
> I need it for reasons.


	16. Appa's Lost Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn’t need to write this chapter since there wasn’t to much different from canon and the stuff I did put in could have been saved for another chapter, but whatever it’s written so here.  
> Also I have some possible Earth Kingdom names for Aang to use next chapter and kind of want to get people’s opinions.
> 
> Ren - (Might use this one) means the love of the lotus, subtle hint to the secret White Lotus society.  
> Kaoru - means fragment or piece of a whole, even more subtle hint to a future plot point. :)  
> Koko - The name of Avatar Kyoshi’s daughter and a common nickname given to Zuko, just for the cute factor.

Four days ago.

Appa let out an angry growl as ropes were flung over him. He yanked hard on one sending the sand bender on the other end flying, but there were more to take his place. 

Toph attempted to help him, but between not being able to tell where anything was, and having to hold up the rapidly sinking library there wasn’t much she could do.

More ropes were attached, pinning him down and he was no longer able to fight back. One was even wrapped around his mouth as a muzzle. The ropes were then attached to several sand sailers and he was unable to do anything as he was pulled away.

It took about an hour for them to get to a camp that seemed to be run by a different tribe of sand benders, all wearing beetle like helmets on their heads instead of scarves that covered their faces. By that time Aappa was too tired to barely do more than angrily growl at them. Not that it did much as he was easily handed off to the other tribe and the ones who’d captured him road off on their sailers.

He was then loaded on a sled that was pulled by a massive sand beetle. Just then the sound of Aang’s bison whistle reached his ears and he thrashed against his binds. He managed to get his tail free and launched himself into the air, only for something sharp to pierce his foot and his whole body went limp.

-

When he next opened his eyes, he was in a cage and a man in an elaborate red and yellow costume looked down at him.

“I understand you’ve had a rather hard time, lately. That’s too bad.”

He stepped closer a hand resting on his chin.

“You probably felt you had no choice but to act outrageously. Like a wild animal.”

The man slowly reached through the bars and gently petted his fur.

“But don’t worry, you won’t anymore.”

The petting stopped and the man’s eyes grew cold.

“Because I’m going to break you.”

All around were more caged animals all sitting miserably obedient in their confinement.

-

His time at the circus was painful and exhausting. The feeling of an empty stomach and a fire whip against his side was becoming far too common. So, when an opportunity to escape came after the ringmaster demanded he perform Appa took it. 

A child yelled from the stands distracting the animal tamer long enough for Appa to make it to the brake in the tent, knocking off the ridiculous outfit they’d given him in the process. 

Meanwhile, amongst the chaos an elderly woman watched everything as she turned a lotus tile around in her hand.

-

Appa didn’t stop flying until he came across a small farm with the barn wide open. He landed right outside and after a moment of it being clear no one saw him he ducked inside. There he found a trough of water and pile of hay that settled his growling stomach and aching throat. His next immediate need was sleep and so he curled up on the ground and closed his eyes.

-

He dreamed of his time as a young calf being raised in the refuge. 

Mostly it was just the older humans who would come to bring him food, clean him, and let him out into the large cavern where he could practice flying with his herd but then one day a group of younger humans came. The adult told the children about how sky bison were a part of their culture and without them so much of their way of life would be lost forever. 

One child, however, wasn’t listening and instead was staring at him. He knew this child. From somewhere he couldn’t remember. She had an old spirit just like him.

She came over to him and reached out a hand.

“Hi, my name’s Feng. Do you want to be friends?”

The child stepped closer only for Appa to press his whole head into her and she laughed.

The adult and other children looked up at hearing her laugh and she turned to them.

“Hari look, I made a friend!”

The adult smiled softly at the pair.

“Yes, it seems you have. You know, they say that if you make friends with a sky bison, it’s a bond for life.”

The child’s eyes lit up.

“You hear that buddy? We’re going to be together forever.”

Appa just gave her a full body lick and she giggled.

-

Appa was fearfully awoken by the owner of the barn yelling about a monster and waving a pitchfork in his face. The man’s wife then came in holding a torch and the sight of fire sent Appa reeling. 

In his attempt to get away from the perceived threat he burst through the roof of the barn and flew into the night sky.

He finally found a quiet forest that had grown over what might have once been a temple or simply a settlement. Whatever it had been there were still stone buildings big enough for a sky bison to curl up inside for the night.

Of course, the porcupine-pig that was already there wasn’t too pleased with him and left him with several quills in his side before leaving. Removing them on his own was too painful and so he just left them as exhaustion pulled him under.

-

The next morning, he was awoken by the sound of a vaguely familiar voice. He opened his eyes to see a young teenage girl in a green dress and white face paint slowly approaching.

She placed a hand full of fruit outside and stepped back.

“It’s going to be ok, Appa. I’m going to go get some help.”

Once she was gone Appa ate the fruit and waited to see if she’d come back.

She did indeed come back followed by a group of other girls all dressed the same as she was. He was a bit apprehensive of the sudden new faces but didn’t do more than growl a bit.

“Appa, it’s me, Suki. I’m a friend.”

She slowly inched closer with her hand out ready to pull back if Appa gave any indication of not wanting her.

“I want to help you. You’re hurt. We can help you feel better.”

He curled back a bit at her approach.

“And we can help you find Aang.”

At the mention of Aang, Appa relaxed and let Suki come closer. She rested her hand on his nose and gently brushed away some of the caked-on dirt. For the first time an a while Appa felt safe.

-

About an hour later Appa was clean and clear of porcupine-pig quills. He gave the nearest girl a lick and they all laughed.

Then he heard something and tensed, alerting the warriors around him of the danger. 

Over the hill appeared Azula, Mai and Ty-Lee, riding on the backs of gecko-hounds. They came down and surrounded the warriors and Azula held up a clump of Appa’s fur.

“My, my, you’re easy to find.”

Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors pulled out their fans and shields and took stances around Appa.

“What do you want with us?”

Azula looked down at them, unimpressed.

“Who are you? An Avatar fan club?”

The way she said Avatar made it sound like she was telling a joke only she understood.

Ty-Lee’s looked confused for a moment before her face lit up and she smiled over to her.

“Good one Azula.”

Mai just rolled her eyes with an expression of disgust masked with boredom. 

Suki didn’t react to the taunt and just crouched behind her shield.

“If you’re looking for the Avatar, you’re out of luck.”

Mai let out a sigh.

“I knew this was a waste of time.”

Azula just shrugged.

“I wouldn’t say that. After all any friend of the Avatar, is an enemy of mine!”

She jumped off her gecko-hound and sent a stream of fire at Suki, which was blocked by the warriors’ shields. 

Mai and Ty-Lee then jumped off their own mounts and entered the fight. 

The Kyoshi warriors were able to hold their own pretty well for a while but it was soon clear they were not equipped to handle the other girls’ unique fighting styles. Those that weren’t pinned to the nearby trees by Mai were left limp and unmoving by Ty-Lee in a matter of moments. 

That just left Azula and Suki, with Appa behind her. Suki deflected another blast from Azula, but this time a few stray embers landed on a nearby log, setting it ablaze. Appa reacted fearfully and stumbled away from the flames. 

After it was clear she wasn’t going to be able to fight and keep Appa safe Suki attempted to shew him away. But Appa refused to let Suki get hurt and kept trying to intervene in the fight. A guilty look crossed Suki’s features before grabbing a burning branch and waving it at him until he flew away. 

The last thing Appa saw as he rose into the sky was Suki getting blasted back by a stream of blue flames. 

-

Appa flew for a few miles before a shock of yellow caught his attention. The same shade of yellow Aang wore. He dove down and landed right in front of the figure in yellow. 

However, now that he was closer, he could tell the figure was definitely not Aang, yet there was still a bit of familiarity. He took a step closer and sniffed gently. 

The figure stared at Appa from under her pale yellow cloak. 

“Appa? What are you doing here alone? Where’s…”

The figure was cut off by Aappa softly headbutting her in happiness. 

“Oh. Yes, I missed you too.”

Her hood fell away revealing long gray hair and an aged face. Hari brushed her hands through Appa’s fur. 

“Do you know where Feng is? Can you take me to her?”

Appa let out a mournful groan and Hari placed a hand over her mouth, her eyes growing wet.

“No. We must find her.”

Just then another figure made their way out of the woods.

“That won’t be necessary. I assure you, that your charge is safe and with good people.”

Hari turned to the figure and narrowed her eyes.

“Who are you.”

The figure pulled down the hood of their maroon cloak, revealing steely gray hair and light brown eyes. The same eyes that had watched Appa from the stands in the circus. 

“I will explain later, but right now there is a young air bender missing their bison.”

She pulled out an old blue blanket and held it out to Appa.

Appa sniffed at it and immediately started rubbing his face against it. 

Then before Hari could react, the woman leaned in and spoke.

“Yip yip.”

At the command Appa launched himself into the sky and took off. 

Hari looked to the woman shocked, but she just smiled and held her hand out.

“Come, there’s a lot I should tell you.”

-

Appa flew for another several hours, out of the forest and over a large lake, even passing some water tribe ships on the way and shocking some of the men as he did so. Eventually, as if on instinct he made his way to the Eastern air temple, where he wondered the long-abandoned halls, until he stumbled on a man sitting in the meditation garden. 

The man turned and smiled at Appa.

“Hello there. I am Guru Pathik.”

He got up and Appa stepped back.

“I know I’m not the one you are looking for, but I think we might be able to help one another.”

Appa just growled and so Pathik sat back down.

A few hours later exhaustion caught up with Appa again and he fell asleep. That’s when Pathik finally got up and quietly walked over to him. A sad expression crossed his features as he got closer.

“You’ve been through so much recently.”

His hand moved down Appa’s torso until he got to just under the stomach and a small sad smile crossed his lips.

“You’re still full of love though, even if fear has clouded your trust.”

He looked over the sleeping bison.

“I have a message for the new Avatar, I’m sure you’ll be willing to send him.”

Appa twitched and shook in his sleep and Pathik’s smile fell.

“But not now. Now you must rest and heal.”

-

It took a couple days for Appa to finally trust Pathik enough to approach him while awake, but after a while he was able to come close enough to tie a piece of rolled up paper to his horn.

“Your spirit is strongly bonded with another. Strong enough that it may even be able to guide you to them. Bonds like that are special and the ability to follow them is rare, so I will help you find them.”

He pressed his hand to Appa’s head and they both closed their eyes. 

-

Not long after Appa was flying into Ba Sing Se. By the time he’d made it past the wall it was late into the night, so he did not see the Dai Li agents that slid from the roof as he passed.

He heard the sound of a high pitched whistle and immediately dove for it. However, once he landed he was not met with the over enthusiastic greeting of a happy air bender and instead was faced by a man with a stiff posture and cold light green eyes.

The man made a swift movement and Appa was swallowed up beneath the streets of Ba Sing Se.


	17. City of Walls

The team got on the train and settled in their seats, still not noticing Jet glaring at them from the next car over.

He only stopped staring when Smellerbee nudged him in the ribs.

“Jet I know we had some problems with them but we’re still on the same side. We came here for a new start remember. Starting trouble with them is only going to make things harder for us.”

“It’s not about the dam; it’s about them working with the Fire Nation. They may think they’re on our side but that’s just what their Fire Nation friends want them to think. Besides it’s not them I’m starring at it’s the guy with the scar.”

“What about him?”

“Last time I saw him he was with Sokka after he warned the town about the dam. He was wearing Fire Nation armor.”

“Wait are you saying...?”

“Yes, that guy is Fire Nation.”

-

The train stopped at the station in the lower ring and both Aang and Zuko moved to get off.

“Wait where are you going?”

They both stopped and turned to Katara.

“Uh getting off the train.”

Zuko pointed to the open doors.

Katara shook her head.

“No, we’re going to the upper ring to stay in Toph’s vacation home, remember?”

Both of them grew uncomfortable at the mention of the upper ring but Aang did turned to sit back down next to Katara.

However, before she gotten far, Iroh stood up.

“Actually, considering we’re in the city not just for the King but to find Appa as well, it may be beneficial for us to split up.”

“Oh.”

Katara looked to Aang then Zuko before nodding.

“Alright, we’ll meet back up with you when we can.”

Aang nodded and went back to exit with Zuko and Iroh.

Zuko locked eyes with Sokka who gave him a questioning look but really had no way to explain things before they had to leave.

They then exited the train, leaving Katara, Sokka and Toph behind.

From the next car over Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot stepped into the station right behind them.

-

Back on the train Katara and Sokka watched as they entered the inner ring and gasped at how massive the city truly was. Meanwhile Toph just made herself comfortable on the bench as she ignored her friends, clearly not as impressed as the other two.

Eventually the train got to the station and they all got out.

“I can’t believe a place like this exists, it’s amazing.”

Toph crossed her arms.

“Yeah, a bunch of walls and rules, amazing. Just wait you’ll get sick of it in a couple days.”

“Hello, my name is Joo Dee.”

The kids looked up to see a woman dressed in a trim greenish yellow dress and a perfectly straight pin in her hair coming up to them with a far too wide smile.

“I have been given the honor of escorting the young Ms. Beifong and her companions around the city.”

She then looked around at them, her expression not changing once.

“Are we still waiting on the rest of your group?”

Katara and Sokka shared a look while Toph did her equivalent of glaring at the woman, which was really her taking an aggressive stance in the direction of Joo Dee.

“No this is everyone.”

Joo Dee’s smile twitched but still remained firmly in place.

“Oh, I was informed you had three other companions with you.”

Toph frowned obviously wanting to make things as difficult for this woman as possible.

“Well, you were told wrong.”

“Toph!”

Toph ignored Katara and continued to be antagonistic to Joo Dee who’s smile still hadn’t changed.

“In that case would you like to get started.”

Sokka nodded with a serious look.

“Actually, we have information about the Fire Nation that needs to be delivered to the Earth King immediately. It could…”

“Great, let’s begin our tour.”

She turned and started walking off, not even acknowledging anything Sokka had said.

Sokka attempted to convey the urgency of their mission again but Joo Dee simply brushed him off with that never changing smile, that was really starting to get creepy.

“You are in Ba Sing Se, everyone is safe here.”

“Anyone else think getting off at the lower ring was a better idea?”

Joo Dee led them to a large cart obviously meant for more than four people pulled by a pare of ostrich horses. Once everyone was inside and the cart started moving, she started telling them mostly inane things about the city. Every other word that came from her mouth seemed to either be safety, order, or protection and no matter the number of times Sokka tried to interject she just continued on like he hadn’t spoken.

The only time she did stop was when Katara asked about the walls separating the three rings of the city.

“The walls are to help protect us and maintain order. The city is far safer when everyone is kept in their proper places.”

The answer made them all shift uncomfortably and Katara gave the wall a worried look.

-

Meanwhile Aang tightened her cloak around her shoulders trying to more effectively hide her air nomad clothes as she, Zuko, and Iroh walked through the market of the lower ring. Seeing how well Zuko and Iroh blended in with their brown and green clothing made her seem to stick out more.

“I don’t like it here.”

She looked up to see Zuko scowling then looked around at the dingy and run-down marketplace.

“I know what you mean, even a hundred years ago I didn’t like coming here. It’s so different from the way the monks told us to live, but now it feels even worse. It feels like I remember people watching us, but I never actually saw them.”

Zuko nodded and Aang shrank closer to him.

“Do you know how to make it stop?”

Zuko frowned and looked away.

“I was never good at making good decisions with people watching.”

“Oh.”

Aang looked away guiltily only for Iroh to come back up to them and hand her a bundle of cloth.

“I got you something better to wear here other than that heavy cloak.”

Aang smiled and took the clothes from him, her eyes landing on the pot he had in his other hand.

“Thanks. The flowers are pretty.”

“I wanted to make our new house look nice during our stay.”

He smiled at Zuko.

“Just in case someone brings home a special someone .”

The expression Zuko returned him was a mix of anger and disgust.

“Don’t forget why we’re here, Uncle.”

Aang nodded as she pulled out the bison whistle and gave it a blow. Unfortunately, nothing happened, and she hung her head.

Iroh placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry we’ll find him.”

Aang nodded but didn’t look up.

“Come now, I heard about a tea shop just down the street. People tend to talk when enjoying good tea.”

He then turned and started leading them down the street.

-

Down a nearby alley Jet narrowed his eyes as he watched the small group.

“Look at them, fire benders right under everyone’s nose.”

“Jet, you don’t even know if they’re fire benders. We definitely know Aang isn’t.”

“Aang will believe anything someone will tell her if she thinks they’re doing good. You know that.”

“Yeah, because we used that against her. Look even if you’re right and those other two are fire benders, are we just supposed to attack them? I thought we were starting over here, changing our ways and how we do things.”

“We are, I know what I saw. When I get the evidence I need, I’ll report them to the guards and let them deal with it, ok?”

Smellerbee and Longshot exchanged looks but didn’t object.

-

A short time later Jet stood outside the Pao Family Tea House and looked through the window as Iroh, Aang and Zuko got a table.

Aang looked around and frowned.

“There doesn’t look to be many people here.”

It was true, only one other table seemed to be occupied and neither of the occupants really seemed that interested in their tea.

“Well, we still shouldn’t let the opportunity to indulge in some good tea go to waste.”

Zuko gave an argumentative sigh but remained seated as did Aang and it wasn’t long until they got their tea.

However, as soon as Iroh took a sip his face scrunched up in disgust and he started coughing.

“Ugg! This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!”

“Uncle, that’s what all tea is.”

Iroh looked to Zuko in horror.

“How could a member of my own family say something so horrible.”

He then stood from the table.

“I’m going to have a talk with the owner.”

He then went to the counter and after a moment went right into the back of the shop.

“Should we do something?”

Zuko just sighed.

“Even if we did, we won’t be able to stop him. You know how Uncle is about tea.”

A short while later Iroh came out with the owner and wearing an apron.

“Good news kids, I got us jobs.”

Aang and Zuko were too stunned by the declaration that they didn’t react aside from staring until Iroh threw the whole pot of the bad tea out the window. Unknowingly, almost drenching Jet in the process.

“Uncle, we’re here to find Appa not get jobs as tea servers.”

“I don’t see why we can’t do both. As I said people tend to talk when enjoying good tea.”

-

Back in the upper ring the cart passed by the entrance to another wall made of much darker bricks and covered in expensive decoration.

“What’s inside that wall?”

A group of men dressed in dark robes and brimmed hats that obscured their faces turned to them.

“And who are the mean looking guys in robes?”

Joo Dee smiled the way she’d been doing for over an hour now.

“Inside is the royal palace. Those men are agents of the Dai Li, the cultural authority of Ba Sing Se. They are the guardians of all our traditions.”

“Ok good, we’re at the palace. Can we see the king now?”

Joo Dee laughed with a dismissive hand wave.

“Oh no! One doesn’t just pop in on the Earth King, but do not worry a formal request for an audience has been filed.”

“Ok and how long will that take?”

“Given the urgency of what you wish to tell him it should be put through in about a month.”

“A MONTH!”

“Ah here we go, welcome to the Beifong’s Ba Sing Se estate.”

She ushered everyone out still smiling as if she hadn’t just told them infuriating news.

Once they were all inside she looked over the three of them.

“I’m sure you will enjoy your stay here.”

Sokka gave her an unamused look.

“We’d enjoy it more if it was shorter. Can’t we see the Earth King sooner?

“The Earth King is very busy running the finest city in the world, but he will see you as soon as time permits.”

Katara crossed her arms and looked out the window.

“Well, if we’re going to be staying that long we might as well try to find Appa.”

Joo Dee turned to her.

“I’ll be happy to escort you anywhere you’d like to go.”

Toph got up from her position on one of the over cushioned seats and started making her way to the door.

“We don’t need a babysitter.”

Joo Dee quickly stepped in front of her.

“I promise I won’t be in the way, and to leave you alone would make me a bad host.”

She gave a rehearsed sounding chuckle.

“Where shall we start?”

-

Asking around didn’t result in anything. As soon as any of them mentioned the Fire Nation, the war, or even the possibility of Appa being on the black market whoever they were talking to would glance to Joo Dee and completely clam up. The number of people who’d either kicked them out of their shops or simply ran away was getting to be ridiculous. Eventually, they just gave up.

“I’m sorry no one has seen your bison.”

Joo Dee spoke as if she wasn’t the whole reason they didn’t get any information.

“Why don’t you get some rest, someone will be by with dinner in an hour. I will be back tomorrow to help escort you anywhere else you’d like to go.”

She then road off in the cart leaving them outside the house.

They glared after her before Sokka noticed someone peaking out from behind another house and he motioned for the others to follow him. They all went over to the man who introduced himself as Pong, a low-level government official.

“So, Pong, why is everyone so scared to talk about the war.”

“War? Scared? What do you mean?”

Toph gave him a deadpan look, somehow even more effective with her vacant eyes.

“I can feel you shaking.”

“Look I don’t want to get in trouble. Listen you can’t mention the war here, and whatever you do stay away from the Dai Li.”

He then ran off before they could question him farther.

With nothing else to do and no time to find the others in the lower ring the kids turned back and went inside.

-

Zuko tossed and turned in his bed as images and words flashed in his dreams.

The inner wall station.

‘Hello, my name is Joo Dee. It is my honor to welcome the Avatar to Ba Sing Se.’

A beautiful house.

Top bending masters demonstrating advanced katas.

‘When will I talk to the king about ending the war?’

People watching from every corner.

Long twisting tunnels lit with eerie green light.

‘You lied to me. You were never going to help me against the Fire Nation!’

Cold green eyes that looked down at him in mocking triumph.

Zuko shot up breathing hard.

“Woah!”

He looked to the side and saw Aang next to his bed, her face illuminated by a small candle.

“Sorry, you were having a nightmare and when you woke up the candle kind of…”

She made a motion with her hand to indicate the flame getting bigger.

“Oh, sorry.”

She set the candle to the side and sat down on the bed, her eyes full of worry.

“It looked really bad. Are you ok?”

Zuko blinked before nodding.

“Yeah. I don’t even really remember what it was about. Anyway, it’s late, let’s just go back to sleep.”

“Ok.”

Then without warning Aang rapped her arms around him in a hug before pulling back and getting up.

“Goodnight.”

She then went back over to her bed and blew out the candle.

Neither of them noticed the boy watching through the window on the next roof over.

-

Later the next day Aang looked up from talking to a customer when the bell over the door to Pao’s Family Tea House rang and she broke into a huge smile at seeing who it was.

“Guys what are you doing here?”

Sokka and Katara were a bit shocked at seeing her but smiled as she approached. Toph on the other hand, having already known she was there with her seismic sense, just punched her in the arm.

“We’ve been out looking for Appa all day and you’ve just been here serving tea to old ladies.”

Aang got ready to defend herself when a familiar annoyed voice came from behind her.

“Ma’am lychee nut tea with no lychee nuts in it is just hot water.”

Aang turned around with a smile.

“Hey Lee, look who’s here.”

“Ren, I don’t have time to look at another crococat…”

He cuts off at seeing their friends.

“What are you doing here?”

“Apparently doing the work you’re too busy to do.”

“That’s Uncle’s fault. The tea here was horrible when we got here, so now he’s the one making it and dragged us into helping him.”

Aang nudged his side.

“It’s not for nothing though. He was right about people talking with good tea. I’ve been able to ask a lot of questions about where Appa might be. No one’s seen him but everyone I’ve talked to said they’ll let me know if they find out anything.”

Sokka sighed.

“That’s better than what we’ve been able to do.”

“Why, were you not able to talk to the Earth King?”

“No apparently incredibly urgent news means we have to wait a month to talk to him.”

Aang and Zuko looked stunned.

“What? That’s insane?!”

Katara nodded.

“We know, we’re trying to find a way to talk to him sooner but…”

“Lee! Ren! I’m not paying you to talk to friends. Tables 4 and 6 have been waiting on their orders!”

Both Aang and Zuko flinched at the shout and Aang quickly turned to the man with a sheepish look.

“Sorry Mr. Pao. We’ll be right there.”

She turned back to the others.

“Sorry, we’ll talk more when the shop closes in an hour.”

The others noded and went to sit at a nearby table.

-

Once the last of the customers left, they picked up their conversation as Aang swept and Zuko cleaned the tables.

“So, Lee and Ren?”

They looked up from their work and turned to make sure Pao was still in the back counting the days earnings.

“Yeah, we had to go by different names to avoid too many questions.”

“Uncle’s going by Mushi here.”

Sokka nodded his head.

“Yeah, that’s a good plan actually.”

“I wanted to go by Koko, after Avatar Kyoshi’s daughter, but Zuko said no.”

Zuko gave her a look which Aang just returned with a smile.

“Uncle was the one who came up with the name Ren.”

Toph crossed her arms.

“You’re calling him Uncle now?”

“Well at first it just made things easier, but then he said he liked it so now I do it because of that.”

“Well then I’m calling him Uncle too.”

Aang smiled.

“I’m sure he’ll like that.”

She then stopped her sweeping and leaned on the broom to face the others.

“So, what happened with trying to find a way to talk to the King?”

“Oh, right. We’re still trying to find a way to talk to him but the creepy woman, Joo Dee…”

The, thankfully empty, tray Zuko was holding crashed to the ground and everyone turned to him.

Zuko had a haunted look as he stood rigid, his breaths coming in shallow pants. Aang quickly ran over to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. At the contact Zuko snapped out of it as his eyes focused and breathing slowed.

“What happened?”

“You zoned out and started panicking.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“No, you shouldn't apologize, but we probably should be going.”

“What no you don't have to go.”

Sokka shook his head.

“No Katara’s right, we had to ditch that creepy lady that's been following us around and it be really bad if she showed up here.”

Zuko looked away guiltily but Aang nodded in reluctant understanding.

“Yeah, it's better that people don't know we're here and figure out who we are.”

“We'll keep trying to find a way to talk to the King, and in the meantime, we'll keep looking for Appa.”

Aang smiled.

“Thanks, Katara.”

Katara squeezed Aang’s hand as they all got up and got ready to leave.

“Will try to come back and see you guys tomorrow.”

They all waved as Katara, Sokka, and Toph all made their way out the door and back to the Upper Ring.

-

For the next few days things went pretty normal. Until one afternoon Katara came into the shop and asked if Aang could come with her to look at something they’d found. Aang was eager to go but it wasn't time for her shift to be over yet.

It took a combination of Iroh’s conversation skills and Aang’s ferret-puppy eyes, but eventually Pao allowed her to leave. Apparently turning his shop into the most popular teahouse in Ba Sing Se gave them a few perks.

Aang happily bounced behind Katara as they left, not noticing a teenage girl with braids watched them go with a knowing smile.

-

However, not more than a couple of hours after Aang and Katara left, the front door to the shop was slammed open.

Everyone looked up to see Jet standing in the doorway glaring daggers at Zuko and Iroh.

“I'm tired of waiting.”

He pointed an accusatory finger at them.

“Those men are Fire Nation!”

He unsheathed his hook swords and took a menacing step forward.

The patrons looked from Jet to Zuko and Iroh shocked and confused, many eyes lingering on the left side of Zuko's face.

“They’re Fire Nation and I know at least that one’s a fire bender.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The other night when you were startled awake, I saw that candle flicker.”

A man in a wide brimmed hat, gave jet a disbelieving look.

“Yeah, candles flicker when you move? Also, that sounds like you've been spying on them.”

“I had to get proof somehow!”

An elderly woman sitting with her partner frowned disapprovingly.

“You were spying on them before you even had any possible evidence?”

“Well, I…I'm not explaining this well but I’m telling you their Fire Nation.”

A pair of guards exchanged looks before one turned to Jet.

“Drop your swords boy, nice and easy.”

“Fine I'll prove it to you.”

He took a step towards Iroh.

“You're going to have to defend yourself. Then everyone will know. Show them what you can do.”

The guards stood but Zuko was faster. He grabbed the dual dao from one of the men's belts and took a stance with them.

“You want a show, I'll give you a show.”

The guards exchanged looks but appeared to agree not to get involved for now. They both stood back as Zuko kicked a table in Jet’s direction.

Jet used his hook swords to fling himself over the table and let them come down towards Zuko.

Zuko block the attack and jumped up onto another table to get the higher ground.

Jet slice through the table to unbalance him but Zuko quickly jumped off to regain his footing.

Metal clanged against metal, until Jet finally managed to get the upper hand and sent Zuko flying through the window with a well-aimed kick. However, that barely fazed Zuko as he got back up on his feet and continued the fight.

Their swords met in another clash, but this time jet didn't pull away. Instead, he continued pushing making sure to look Zuko straight in the eye.

“You must be getting tired of using those swords. Why don't you go ahead and fire bend at me?”

Zuko let out a yell and shoved him back but not even a spark left his person.

Meanwhile Iroh and all of the customers had gotten out of their seats and were crowded around the door.

Iroh held his hand out in worry towards the two boys.

“Please, young man, you're confused! You don't know what you're doing!”

Jet ignored him and continued to bait Zuko.

“Bet you wish you had a little help with a little fire blast, don't you? Once I expose you for what you are I’ll make sure Aang and her friends are taken someplace safe where you can't manipulate them anymore.”

Zuko grit his teeth in anger.

“That's rich coming from you.”

“Oh, so you do remember who I am. Here's a tip, don’t go running around in fire nation armor in front of a rebel.”

Zuko pinned one of Jet’s swords to the ground.

“And here's a tip for you don't attack people who are just trying to stay out of trouble.”

As they fought they didn't notice the crowd parting as two Dai Li agents approached.

“Drop your weapons.”

Zuko looked up at the voice and instantly froze. Jet attempted to take advantage of this only to find his wrist encased in rock cuffs.

“What no! Arrest him! He’s the fire bender.”

Iroh placed a hand on Zuko’s shoulder, snapping him back into reality.

“Please officers, this boy is confused. He saw an exchange between my niece and nephew and interpreted it as something completely wrong. We're just simple refugees.”

Pao in the customers quickly stepped in to confirm Iroh’s statement.

The Dai Li turned to Iroh.

“And where is your niece now?”

“She is out with a friend. She should be back soon, but I am grateful that she was not around during the attack.”

The Dai Li nodded.

“As long as she is home before curfew.”

They then started dragging Jet away.

“No, you don't understand! They're lying. They’re Fire Nation. You have to believe me!”

His protests were left ignored as he was thrown into the back of a wagon and carted off.

Iroh then picked up the two swords Zuko had used to fight and return them to the guard.

“I believe these are yours.”

“Yes, thank you, your nephew used these pretty well.”

“Well one tends to pick up a few things when you're on the road. It is unfortunate he had to use those skills in such a manner here. Ba Sing Se is such a safe city.”

The guard nodded.

“If you would like we could locate your niece and bring her home.”

“Thank you, that would be appreciated. Having the family together would ease my mind after tonight.”

The guards then went off to find Aang.

“Will your niece be safe with the guards? We don't want another misunderstanding.”

Iroh turned to see the man with the broad hat and the two women who defended them in the tea shop.

“No do not worry, Ren is quite the charming and smart young lady. She should have no trouble with the guards.”

“That's good to know, us refugees need to lookout for each other.”

The man shifted his hat to reveal a pair of copper-colored eyes, while one of the women placed a warmer than average hand an Iroh’s shoulder.

Understanding cross Iroh’s features and he bowed to them.

“Yes, thank you for looking out for my family this night.”

-

Later Aang was returned to the house in both Iroh and Zuko explained what happened.

“Wow it's scary to think what would have happened if jet had been more convincing.”

“Yes, it is but it is also better to not dwell on the what ifs, and instead learn from this experience to avoid it was worse outcomes in the future.”

Both Aang and Zuko nodded.

“But let us not end this night on a sour note, Aang what did Katara I want to show you?

Aang’s face lit up.

“They found Appa’s footprint! We didn't find Appa or where he went but at least we know that he’s here.”

“That is wonderful news. It should not be that hard to find him now.”

“Yeah, there's not too many places you can hide someone as big as Appa.”

Zuko nodded but an unsure look crossed his face.

“Oh, and another thing! We think we might know a way to talk to the King sooner.”

“Really, what's that?”

Aang smiled at zuko.

“How do you feel about sneaking into a party?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between getting a new job a new apartment surgery on my dominant arm this chapter really took some time to get out. Thankfully, I had most of it written before I broke my shoulder, for the rest speech to text was a very good thing to have.  
> I finally settled on Ren being Aang’s Earth Kingdom name. It means love of the Lotus and thought it’d be cute for Iroh to be the one to pick it out. Although, I did put a small reference to my second choice.  
> Added in a few more headcanons and lore bits in this chapter. Hope you liked them.


End file.
